Camden People’s theatre
Victor Esses’ reflections on his elusive Lebanese-Italian relative are told with easy, open warmth but never quite knit together
On stage, Victor Esses exudes an easy, open warmth. On screen, his long-lost great aunt Marcelle oozes sly wit and elegance. You can tell they would both be a delight at a dinner party.
But this hour in their company is an uneven one, and The Death and Life of All of Us still feels like a work in progress. In Esses’ sincere performance, which asks what narratives we tell of ourselves, he traces the roots of his own identity through Marcelle’s extraordinary journey from Lebanon to Italy. But where the beginnings of stories and encounters are offered, the middles and ends are too often left out, no momentum pushing us on. The disparate threads remain so, and this story of connection never quite connects.
