Review: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, VAULT Festival

Adam Scott-Rowley thinks YOU ARE GOING TO DIE at VAULT Festival. On this evidence, it’s hard to argue with him

“I think I’m stuck in a well”

There’s an extraordinary sense of being exposed that comes with watching YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. Performer Adam Scott-Rowley may be the one that is entirely naked, as he remains throughout the show, but it is our vulnerability that somehow comes to the fore, our openness that is the crucial ingredient in this solo show that unexpectedly becomes a communal experience.

Straddling a line between theatre, live art and quite possibly something other as well, Scott-Rowley presents nothing less than the human condition itself. Portrayed through a series of abstracted characters, all taking a highly surreal journey, and amping up an emotional intensity that you rarely experience in a theatre, it honestly does feel like nothing else (unless, I presume, you saw his earlier show THIS IS NOT CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT…).

Slut-drops sit next to existential howls; blokish posturing next to terrified trappedness; haunting renditions of ‘Cheek to Cheek’ followed by singalong paeans to dildos. It might not seem possible but somehow, everything knits together into a long night of the soul, complete with highs and lows. Things never get so dark that you can’t see the light at the bottom of the toilet bowl…

Running time: 60 minutes (without interval)
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YOU ARE GOING TO DIE is booking at VAULT Festival until 19th March

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