Have you ever been strapped for cash? So skint that after your doorknobs fall off you have to use a contraption of socks to open your doors? So tight that you can’t help out your mum who needs a new oven? So hard up that you would risk blindness in a clinical drug trial in return for some moolah? If so, Brainsluts is the show for you.
In a sea of solo acts, Brainsluts has a refreshingly filled out cast of five. There are four participants — Bathsheba, Mitch, Yaz, and Duggan — and their cicerone, Dr Eavis. In exchange for £2,000, the guinea pigs devote five Sundays to trialling a new drug. They know nothing about the pill in question. They know even less about the process, considering how few read the “literature” beforehand! There is a chance this group is the placebo; though, in the name of a fair test, each candidate is kept in the dark and simply asked to write down any side effects.
Experienced participants Mitch, Yaz, and Bathsheba intend to take the pill and sit on their phones (or beads) for a few hours. However, their plans are thwarted by the broken Wi-Fi and Duggan’s exigent need for conversation. The whole cast are wonderfully funny, but Rob Preston as Duggan steals the show. He reminded me of Jesse Pinkman in early Breaking Bad with his layered t-shirts, one-thought-per-sometimes voice, and awkward social interactions. Duggan provided a large portion of the show’s comedic value; Preston was a joy to watch.
Emmeline Downie as Dr Eavis was also highly chuckle-worthy. She added an undeniably British strand to the show with her relatable, Miranda Hart-style blunders and silliness. Brainsluts had a few moments which any British audience member could find relatable. From the inner peace found only by walking through big Tesco to the pride inspired by a cuisine of pies, the show feels homely and familiar.
Although, Brainsluts has its fair share of tensions too. Above all, the financial position of the participants. Mitch, played by the show’s hilarious writer Dan Bishop, is in an “anti-work” movement. The stereotype of a performative activist, the socialist zealot he attempts to show himself as crumbles under the smallest resistance. Dr Eavis’s claim that some participants fall in love further adds pressure to the group, but the real peril is reached when one of the four is absent for a week.
Strangers at the start and, well, not really friends and sort of still strangers at the end, Brainsluts shows the beauty of the mundane conversations in life. It asks what drives us, examines how we interact and what we prioritise, and shows the harmony that can arise from a clash of personalities. Despite a somewhat anti-climactic end, it is a thoroughly enjoyable show.
Image courtesy of Ella Carmen Dale, provided to The Student as press material.