ED2019 3/5 Reviews ED2019 Theatre Reviews

My Best Dead Friend (Anya Tate-Manning and Isobel MacKinnon with Zanetti Productions)

By | Published on Wednesday 14 August 2019

In New Zealand’s Dunedin, there isn’t a lot to do. This was doubly true in the 1990s, so when Anya Tate-Manning and her friends were growing up, they had to make their own fun, which they did quite successfully until their close-knit group was riven by tragedy. On a giant, stage-spanning chalkboard, Tate-Manning draws out the story. There are some lovely moments – a hill transforms into a fist when the group read Marx and decide to start the revolution, and there’s the inventive creation of a chalk TV when young Anya watches ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. This clever visual element ensures the show is never less than entertaining, even when it feels a little light on story and incident.

Summerhall, until 25 Aug.
tw rating 3/5 | [Jon Stapley]

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