Life and death in a container on the move

= Photo by Charles Flint

Daniel Nelson

Sorry We Didn't Die at Sea is uncategorisable but funny and entertaining.

Three people (The Stocky One, The Beautiful One, and The Tall One) have paid $2,000 to be stuck in a container as they flee a disintegrating near-future Europe for - where? The captain (The Burly One) has given them the destination - but it turns out that he has given each of them the name of a different country of refuge.

The trio also offer different life stories to each other, but their stories shape-shift and it’s not immediately clear whether their accounts are true, partially true or entirely made up.

Alliances also shift as the quick-flowing dialogue spills out. 

A touch of surrealism is provided by the captain, an auto-didact who shares his knowledge and opinions with the audience.

It’s engaging and witty, almost like an Agatha Christie mystery, but, like today’s “small boat” migrants, passengers have no power and their situation becomes increasingly dangerous.

A storm upsets their already precarious world, tossing them and the play into darker waters as food and water dwindle, life and death decisions have to be made, and cannibalism becomes an option.

Actors and production are excellent, and it’s enjoyable, an unusual blend of absurdist comedy, horror and small p political commentary, but it doesn’t quite have the import that Italian writer Emanuele Aldrovandi promises.

* Sorry We Didn't Die at Sea is at Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, N4 3JP, from £9-£25, until 30 September. Info: Park