Playwright Daisy Hall’s Women’s Playwriting Award short listed play, Bellringers, brings a literal storm into the packed stands of the Paines Plough Roundabout this Fringe. This play initially caught my attention because of its producers, Ellie Keel Productions, who won the The Stage Producer of the Year in 2024. Their 2023 production Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz, also at the Roundabout, was easily one of my favourite one person shows last year. Their reputation for consistently producing plays of excellence precedes anything they touch, and rightly so, as Bellringers is no exception.
Set in an English countryside town, friends, Clement and Aspinall await lightening to strike in a derelict, damp bell tower. The unease of the play is instantaneous as the soundscape, gorgeously designed by Holly Khan, cracks the audience to attention. It’s ambiguous when this might be happening: their garbs are somewhat Middle Ages, but their language feels current, and the worsening ‘biblical’ weather conditions feel futuristic as we face down the barrel of climate collapse in the not-so-far off future. It’s clear that the natural world is in a state of chaos. With mention hailstones the size of a human head, sporadic fires and storms of fish (despite it being a landlocked town), the characters often ask each other what they, or their ancestors, could’ve done to wreak such harsh punitive measures upon them.
The outside conditions slowly encroach on their hideout from the storm, as mushrooms begin sprouting spontaneously on the benches, even growing on Clement’s back, proving that nowhere is truly safe. Paul Adeyefa’s portrayal of honest, hopeful Aspinall perfectly contrasts Luke Rollasen’s pessimistic, yet comedic Clement. The two performers were powerful in their vulnerable portrayal of male friendship and their final moments together, in which they hold hands, will stick with me for a very long time.
Daisy Hall has proven with this play that theatre is in very capable, empathetic hands. With their steady, gentle storytelling, they’ve managed to weave a tale that transcends time, and leaves us with a subtle warning of what might be to come, if we continue down our destructive path.
Bellringers is on at The Roundabout, Summerhall from Aug 1 to Aug 26 at 13.15.
Buy tickets here.
Photography by Alex Brenner provided by Summerhall Press Office