More abstruse than absurd, Coffee Break is a challenge at Camden Fringe 2024 at the Hen & Chickens Theatre
“How are bicycles a menace?”
It’s a bold show that asks what “cats, bicycles and Jim Davidson” have to do with anything, a bolder one still that claims to be “a metaphysical comedy involving body and soul and the unbearable triteness of being”. This is where we are with Bruce Kitchener’s new show Coffee Break, a bold attempt at something more complex than one might usually see at the Camden Fringe 2024 but one which doesn’t quite come off.
Jo and Lu are in a coffee shop after the former has been involved in a collision with a cyclist. Their close, but undefined, relationship sees them squabble over details – Lu was walking in a cycle lane with noise-cancelling headphones on – but isolated from their phones, it takes them a moment to realise that they don’t know how long they’ve been waiting, or even what they’re waiting for. There’s also a very strange view out of the window.
The arrival of Pat suggests answers might be on the way but actually raises more questions, as she morphs from quiz show host to receptionist to policewoman to nurse with each appearance. As a concept, this carries much potential but the script really doesn’t back it up, replete with a strange mix of cultural references (Larry Grayson’s Generation Game, the country song ‘Deck of Cards’) for its millienial-aged characters to wield.
Emily Beach and Ezra Dobson battle valiantly to bring Lu and Jo to life but saddled with dialogue that has them defining half the things they mention – escape rooms, red herrings?! – they’ve little chance. Kat Kitchener fares better in milking the comic potential from her interventions (the options on the form gag is very well done) but ultimately, this is the kind of Coffee Break that will leave you considering giving up caffeine.
