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REVIEW | Transient, Bridewell Theatre (Camden Fringe)
- Harry Brogan
- Aug 14
- 3 min read
AD | Tickets gifted in exchange of an honest review
Love can be a tricky subject to write theatre about. It’s a feeling everyone experiences in some form, and can relate to, which also means that nearly every play is about it in some form, so to find something new to say is easier said than done. ‘Transient’, written by Cesar Azanza & directed by Matthew Paul takes an interesting crack at the subject of love, ‘the one’ & heartbreak…
Transient begins incredibly strongly. No messing about, we enter straight into the break up of a relationship - these are the kind of beginnings of theatre I absolutely love, completely shocked and gripped from the get go. The show then tells the story of this relationship in reverse, following the couple, played by Vedika Haralalka & Cesar Azanza, as we travel back in time to uncover what went wrong in this relationship, and how that led to the dramatic ending, our beginning of the show. A very interesting concept for a love story, and something with a lot of potential.
The play, as well as being about love, also comments on migration, the stickiness of two migrants falling in love, and how that can affect relationships. This is subtle throughout the show, with comments about having to fly to family, and then the discovery this couple met in an airport, but I would’ve liked to see more detail on how being a migrant from a different country can affect relationships and love - it’s a topic I would find very interesting to watch.
The performances from the titular pair definitely hold up a lot of the show. Azanza plays a broken, troubled figure, with a great comic knack for awkwardness and that ‘first date’ kind of vibe. But by far the star of the show is Haralalka, who immediately grips you from the first moment of coming on stage. Haralalka's presence throughout the show is powerful, and is truly a talent on stage, with a fantastic ability to be funny and witty, and then also cut that with a real, powerful sadness in moments of tragedy. A theatrical powerhouse, and someone to watch definitely.
Director, Matthew Paul, definitely has a directorial style which I adore, the use of silence, distance & empty space are very clear and put across a powerful message right at the start of the play about a loss of love. My issues come in the transitions & the structure of the show. It’s a bit unclear what the show is trying to do with its transitions, with some being to music and others in silence. There are some great ideas being thrown around, but I wish we could stick to one idea and expand it - I would love to see more physical movement in these transitions to show the love falling apart or being re-ignited. I think the structure of the writing could help clean this up, making it clearer we are going back in time so the audience can understand this point of view.
‘Transient’ is a play with some interesting ideas and great potential - with a bit of cleaning up, and a more decisive point of view, this show could be something really special.
★★★.5
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