THEATRE REVIEW: The Believers

The Believers

Warick Arts Centre

The Believers was unlike any production I have seen in past. It was the most physical performance I have seen in a long while, with at times me questioning how exactly they pulled off some of the sequences that they performed. 

The story was completely timeless, even though the programme says its set 'Now, Somewhere...' , you could easily put this piece in any era, probably dating from the 1980's onwards, due to the language at times and the themes running throughout, mainly about religious beliefs. 

The storyline was very straight forward, and starts in the present with Joff and Marianne, one of the two couples in the show, visibly upset by the loss of their daughter Grace, though it is unknown at this time how the incident came about. Suddenly we are taken back to the night of a serve storm, where Ollie and Maud, a couple with religious beliefs, invite Joff, Marianne and Grace into their home for the night to protect them from the storm. Ollie and Maud have a daughter themselves, Joyous, who Garde goes to play with. 

Even though this seemed like a serious, dramatic play, there was still elements of humor in the in play, with such scenes as praying at the table before tea, and when they are drinking with music, two moments that come to mind that brought laughter from the audience.


As the story progresses, we see birds eye views of conversations happening in the home,which is brilliantly executed by the actors hanging from the back walls on a protective harness which was very well hidden from the audience, and this is what I think made this production very unique for me, because I had never seen such things as this happen in any production before.

 As the story progresses and comes to a close, we find out in the last closing minutes that Joyous, Ollie and Maud's daughter, killed Grace whilst upstairs playing games. We then figure out that this is why Joff and Marianne blame themselves at the start for drinking that very night, because they were not checking up on Grace and can't remember specific details of the night due to the drink. 

Even though the acting in this was brilliant from every cast member, and there was a clever use of using the children's presence in the show but not actually having child actors to play these parts, the highlight of the whole production had to be the use of the staging that they had, one being a staircase, and the other a half room staging with door, both of these moveable to the audience. It was just a single piece of set but used very effectively and moved by the actors very slick throughout the production. 

Charis fell asleep during the closing minutes of the show, which she had done previously in Mojo in London, so afterwards I had to update her with what happened in the end, but she said she liked the production none the less, it was just how the lighting was so dark on the stage that made her feel very sleepy, so I don't blame her that she fell asleep. 

Overall, The Believers was a brilliant production with a simple storyline, a great balance of Drama and Comedy, and a brilliant use of thinking outside of the box for some of the sequences used in the show.