REVIEW: You’re Dead Mate at Drayton Arms Theatre until 4 Feb 2023

‘a deep-dive into mortality’ ★★★★

If you were to wake up on New Year’s Day with the mother of all hangovers, you might say something like, “I feel like death” or “what fresh hell is this?” For the Man (Harry Duff-Walker) slumped in a chair on-stage, these phrases have a new-found accuracy.

After joining the 27 club and dying at his own New Year’s Eve party, the Man is confused to meet a personified version of Death (Edmund Morris).

Death is the sardonic administrator who guides everyone who’s ever lived through his purgatorial bedsit and off into the next world. That’s not me trying to be profound, that’s just what he does in the play.

You’re Dead Mate is packed full of witty dialogue that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Martin McDonagh dark comedy. But the humour of the first section falls off a cliff as the Man realises the true horror of his situation. The tonal whiplash is a little unsettling and overall, this play is far funnier than it is meaningful. It wants to be both and I’m not sure if it quite makes it over the line.

In the same way, the acting is at its best when it’s comedic. The actors try to take us to an emotional place that kind of feels at odds with what we’ve already seen. We hanker for the witty dialogue of the first act. And while the characters’ arguments are entertaining, they’re too shouty from the off, leaving little space for the conflict to go as the play moves on.

That being said, You’re Dead Mate is an intriguing story and well worth a watch. While the Man is faced with his demise, Death is confronted with an eternal half-life. The play is a deep-dive into mortality, encouraging audience members to both live life to the full and to not be fearful of what comes next.

You’re Dead Mate

Drayton Arms, South Kensington

31st January-4th February

Tickets: https://www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk/tickets/youre-dead-mate