Sophie Allison is delighted by On Your Marks Theatre Company's debut offering.
Emily is a 21-year-old girl who doesn’t want to grow up. But then she's hit by a car when riding her bike and tragically never does. Her three childhood friends are reunited the day before her funeral, in her attic, their old playhouse. They task themselves with sorting through all of Emily’s old things, but find a few too many memories along the way. It's not just Emily they have to say goodbye to, but their childhood as well.
As a child in the '90s, I could have happily sat through this play for just the nostalgia alone. As the characters unpack boxes, they get caught up in the amazing world they used to be part of: be it running around as Ghostbusters, marrying Leonardo DiCaprio, re-enacting scenes from school with Barbie and Ken or blaring out Spice Girls and Take That from their Fisher Price tape players. I admit, seeing the three characters dancing to ‘Run With Us’, the theme tune to The Raccoons was a definite highlight for me.
This production would fall flat, however, if playing snippets from '90s theme tunes was all it had to offer. Luckily this isn’t the case. The director, Teresa Burns, co-wrote the script with Madeleine Scott Cree, who plays the character, Roz. It's both very funny and very moving. A lot of humour is drawn from the characters looking back on all the things they did together when they were younger, but underlying this is the reality of why they are here, and the sad fact that growing up has meant growing apart. Especially moving are the three girls’ individual monologues where Harriet talks about her insomnia, Lisa about her Mum leaving and Roz about having done nothing with her life since she last saw the others two years ago.
On top of all this, Burns and Scott Cree have made a short film which is shown at the beginning of the play. It depicts the story of Emily, the girl who never wanted to grow up. It's a useful tool in neatly setting up the play but is also beautifully made and a little bit brilliant.
The Museum of Us is well worth going to see. Any play that features the theme tune from The Raccoons whilst also acting out crucial ‘Ghostbusting’ moments is surely one that's not to be missed, but a lot more is on offer here too. Admittedly a lot of the references do cater for a twenty-something age group, but I defy anyone not to be both entertained and more that a little bit moved by this production.
The Museum of Us will be at the Etcetera Theatre from August 18th-23rd.
To see more Camden Fringe events, click on the following venues:
Roundhouse Studio
Camden Head
Lion and Unicorn Theatre
The Sheephaven Bay
Etcetera Theatre
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