SEVEN DAYS IN THE LIFE OF SIMON LABROSSE by Carole Fréchette at White Bear Theatre 22 Oct – 2 Nov 2024

‘robust black humour and existential angst’ ★★★★

This award winning play (first performed 2016) by Carole Frechétte, one of Canada's leading playwrights, gets its UK premiere at White Bear Theatre in Kennington.   If it is true that the British relish black humour, then this show should do very well indeed. Billed as existential farce, it delivers superbly. There’s an absurdist spin as unemployed Simon Labrosse seeks to pay his bills by offering bizarre services which say much about the little lives of human beings against the backdrop of globalisation and capitalism. 

Simon Labrosse offers to finish your sentences, flatter your ego, and clean your conscience amongst other hard-to-sell services. He is aided by nihilistic poet, Leo, and self-help enthusiast, Natalie. Along the way, there are plenty of opinions delivered from each of them from their own particular perspective. Simon is mostly upbeat. He has his girlfriend in Africa, also called Natalie. It’s a fantastical relationship which Simon has fabricated but to his credit he keeps up the pretence right to the end. Leo is a depressive due to a brick falling on his head when he was a boy, and he’s now waiting for an operation, whilst Natalie is obsessed with own health.
 

The cast are stellar, with multi-lingual actor Rob Wyn Jones playing Simon Labrosse, with immense charm, he’s a romantic and a bit of a cad all at the same time. Tony Wadham plays Leo with a sometimes surly and mostly melancholic quality, which is bound to provoke droll humour whilst Elaine Bastible plays Natalie with a lovable zaniness.

The show is book-ended by scenes breaking the fourth wall, speaking directly to the audience which effectively lures them into the world of Simon Labrosse. The ending is so clever, reminding the viewers that they are watching a play, with actors in it, whose livelihood is that of pretence. Being an actor does seem as precarious an occupation as Labrosse’s offer of services which people think they don’t need, but in a sense perhaps they really do.

It's clear that a lot of love has gone into this play. Director and actor Tony Wadham recently co-produced a production of Animal Farm in London, which received great reviews and won best adaptation at the London Pub Theatre awards. Buoyed with enthusiasm and self-belief, he decided that now was the time for ‘Seven Days in the Life of Simon Labrosse’, having first came across the play when he was cast as Leo in an English speaking production in Munich for BeMe theatre.   

The other actors came on board and they are co-producing.  Wadham and Bastible also created the set between them. Music (by Jules Maxwell) and set are both commendable, with a particular highlight being the use of an old box telly, which was used for a video of Natalie’s insides (revealing that little person inside her pancreas).   

If I’m honest, I would say that the play needs time to gestate and reach the heights of which this team are capable.  Maybe they will inhabit those characters more completely, or maybe just have a lot more fun with the characterisations.   Fortunately, the play runs for a couple of weeks so there’s time for the play to settle in, and I highly recommend taking the opportunity to see it before it’s gone.

SEVEN DAYS IN THE LIFE OF SIMON LABROSSE by Carole Fréchette at the White Bear Theatre 22 Oct – 2 Nov 2024

Box Office: https://www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/whatson/seven-days-in-the-life-of-simon-labrosse

CAST

 Simon Labrosse – Rob Wyn Jones

 Natalie – Elaine Bastible

 Leo – Tony Wadham

 PRODUCTION

 Directed by - Tony Wadham

 Produced by - Elaine Rob and Tony

 Music composed by Jules Maxwell

 Set Design – Elaine Bastible and Tony Wadham

 Poster Design - Paul Monaghan

 Photos - Henrietta Hale

Web Promotion - Bastian Tyrko

 Press Agent – Matthew Parker