Theatre / Reviews
Review: Cracking, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘Poignant, surreal, funny, and deeply personal’
Where to start? Well, it all starts with an egg.
For just over an hour, Shôn Dale-Jones takes us on a deeply personal, surreal, funny and poignant journey about death, depression, subjective humour, all the way to mob mentality.
Part fiction, part fact, part breakdown, Cracking starts with a particularly stressful deadline in Bristol, which he abandons and drives to Anglesey after his mother phones to tell him she is potentially very ill, and waiting on hospital results.
is needed now More than ever
Shôn Dale Jones in Cracking
He brings her lilies, and the two head to the supermarket. Dale-Jones tries to make his “mam” laugh with baked beans, resulting in a withering reaction from the staff. He then recounts a fond memory of being five years old and making pancakes with her, when she asks him to crack an egg on her head, just for laughs.
“I fell in love with the sound of laughter,” he remembers, describing how his mother then said, “and now it’s my turn.”
Getting home from the supermarket, his mother asks him, again, to crack an egg on her head to diffuse the tension caused by the supermarket debacle, and this is when the play turns into surreal chaos.
Members of the village, including staff from the supermarket, his mother’s best friend Eileen, and the mysterious Mr Evans, all turn on him, believing that he is abusing his mother, and want him out of the village.
They print off wanted posters and bring a braying mob to his house. The idea that a simple act misinterpreted by outside viewers can be so devastatingly misinterpreted is scarily accurate in today’s society.
Dale-Jones impersonates each of the other characters using different accents and switching between microphones, occasionally donning a wig which doesn’t seem necessary given the effective simplicity of the rest of the production.
As well as impersonations, he also uses music to great effect. Controlled by himself, he uses classical music to help us envision the birds swirling around the Menai Strait, as his mother watches through the binoculars, and ominous music when he realises that she has cleared out the entire attic – in preparation for her eventual death.
It’s definitely a curious plot, and at times it feels like one long pub chat with someone who hasn’t spoken to anyone in a while, but your attention doesn’t waver for a second.
It’s mad and beautiful, with truly touching and insightful moments. The reality of events is left entirely up to your interpretation, and this is definitely a play you’ll want to talk through over a pint afterwards.
To keep up with future shows and events, visit www.sdjproductions.co.uk or follow Shôn Dale Jones @sdalejones.
All photos: Paul Blakemore
Read next:
- Storyteller Phil Okwedy recalls growing up as a child of dual heritage in Wales
- David Baddiel brings his troll-tackling quest to Bath
- Review: Then Again, The Wardrobe Theatre
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
