Thursday night, I walked into a performance of ‘The Future Show’ completely blind with no idea what it was about or who was performing, and I left that performance feeling recognised and acknowledged as a person. ‘The Future Show’ is, in short, a series of memories of the future presented to the audience, detailing the performer’s lives from the show’s end to the day they die, detailing their future relationships and life events.
Each performer is seated at a table with a microphone, mimicking the usual class discussion on what everyone did that week. Everyone is dressed in boiler suits and talks about their lives in monotone voices. What seem to be interesting and exciting events come to feel like a lamentation. It’s as if the characters have given up all hope of actually accomplishing their goals, because they already know the outcome.
As the show progresses, each cast member presents an item mentioned in their future memory to the audience, abandoning it in the centre of the stage almost to say “here, see? It will happen” unconvincingly.
Right behind the cast is a crudely hung cubist flag which was used in my viewing as a representation of a dusky sky, but made more sense to me as the flag of people at this point in their lives, daydreaming and scorning the position they’re in now, waiting for the day where it gets better.
Towards the end of the performance, a cast member takes a chair and sits closer to the audience, expressing in great emotion, a personal memory from the past in the most emotional scene of the play. After being told for nearly 90 minutes what will happen unenthusiastically, we’re given an emotional connection to a character, which allows the audience to feel themself open up as well.
At the climax, the cast confronts the audience with their own mortality, asking them to imagine what will happen when they die, questioning their importance in the wide world. Everything will keep going after you’re gone. But there are still the small pleasures, which is ultimately what this play celebrates. Small pleasures like mouth-watering toasties, stylish crocs and being handed a magic wand by Mr Olivander himself at a theme park.
This play engaged me, I didn’t dislike it, it’s not something I would watch twice, but it’s an experience that is essential for outsiders and people struggling, trying to get by and find a reason to get out of bed. It’s a play to show you that you’re not alone, it’s a play to show you that this doesn’t have to be us and it’s a play to show you that it’s not all bad. Life is painfully dull and it takes effort to get in your car and drive to work, but it will get better.
‘The Future Show’ is an incredibly therapeutic response to the grey, colourless modernity of average life. Wake up, go to work, fantasise about anything else, go home and repeat. ‘The Future Show’ is your opportunity to fantasise a bit more.
Make sure to check out the other shows this performance season here!
Photo credits: Tori-Lee Featon