Review of ‘Drifting’: “Quest for the meaning of life forgets the meaning of fiction”

The Ardent Theatre Company performs Andrew Muir’s coming-of-age play for one week only at London’s Southwark Playhouse. Guillermo Nazara shares his views on the show to let us know if this tale of self-improvement should take a page out of its own script.

Everyone needs a purpose. Everyone needs a dream. Mine just happens to be destroying others’. In my defense, you can’t blame the guy just for voicing his opinion, or for giving (keep those words well spaced) a few notes. And trust me when I say, have more than a handful for Drifting, whose title I should have regarded as an ominous warning about its pacing. And probably its structure, too.

If you’re familiar with Pippin, you probably recall the wholesome metaphors from its timeless ‘I Want’ song, Corner of the Sky. That’s what you ought to listen to if you want this show to be explained in a nutshell. And perhaps the experience would have been slightly more rewarding.

There is depth in Andrew Muir’s premise about a small-town young man who dreams of moving to the big city. At the age of 26, he has nothing to show for it. He still lives with his parents. His life is an endless routine. Although he attended university, he has spent the last five years storing goods at a supermarket. He knows he can do better. And he’s determined to achieve it. Yet, for some reason, Muir’s script gets too close to the protagonist’s job by leaving too many opportunities on the shelf.

The play puts together an interesting analysis of what constitutes the meaning of life. Different backgrounds, different generations, and subsequently, different ways to understand it. For his parents, the sole purpose is to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads — in all fairness, more than what many can aspire to these days. For his manager, it means climbing the corporate ladder until accomplishing his ultimate goal — retirement. But to the nameless young man, something else must be waiting for him. It just has to.

The show doesn’t take us through his adventures in the capital. Eventually, he makes the move, but that major step cuts directly to the epilogue, where he returns home just to seek his fortune once again on the following day. We don’t get more than a short glimpse of how rough things went and how his spirit wasn’t crushed at all by his bad luck. Until that point, which is right when the piece concludes, all that we’re given are expositional scenes, where the lead collects other people’s views to make his final decision.

There is sharpness and profundity in those observations, but the story seems completely devoid of an arc — at least, by the way the events unfold. Had this journey of self-discovery through others’ eyes helped him realize he could stay, the recount would have come in full circle. However, the play conveys the exact opposite. By finally going away, everything we’ve been presented with up until then comes across as a first act. There’s no proper conflict or resolution. All that we’re given is an overpromising buildup that wistfully takes us nowhere. And so, when it reaches its highest altitude, it finds no support and inevitably plummets.

The company performs adequately within the limits of the material. There is rapport and naturalness. Some renditions even brim with forcefulness and command. Toby Batt delivers a compelling portrayal as the protagonist’s father, generally poignant and sincere. Simultaneously, Lewis Allen demonstrates his deft comedic skills as the Manager, displaying excellent timing and organicness with dry humour. Sadly, the same can’t be said about Trae Walsh, whose lack of subtext makes his interpretation come off flat and rarely appealing.

The piece is imbued with some strong features, particularly as a concept. Muir exhibits intelligence and insight in his depiction of human longing, and the production’s competent standards make it a rousing and stimulating starting point. Yet, over half of its potential remains buried beneath the surface, which has barely been scratched. Cutting the unnecessary blabber and moving the action forward will be the key to breaking away from this germinal phase. Until then, Drifting shall continue its drafting.

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All pictures credit to Mark Douet.

Drifting plays at London’s Southwark Playhouse until 22 November. Tickets are available on the following link.

By Guillermo Nazara