This dark comedy about deradicalisation asks a lot of interesting questions, but forgets to answer them
A show about deradicalising the supporters of a toppled far-right regime feels very relevant. This intriguing and amusing dark comedy from Berlin-based theatre collective Great Thing Going imagines a series of group therapy sessions aimed at getting five repressed followers – don’t worry, they’re just the “little baddies” – to reconnect with their emotions, and feel them more “normally”. If they pass the course, they receive an amnesty. Otherwise: it’s not clear, but it won’t be good.
It’s a compelling premise, arresting your attention for its full 50 minutes. Dressed entirely in orange, the therapist runs through a series of improv games: taking turns to tell one sentence of a story, enacting a description of drowning, naming one another’s emotions. The humour of these interactions contrasts well with the darkness of the context, particularly through the only man in the group, who appears to be terrified of any feeling at all.
Participants are initially reluctant, but a quick reminder of the amnesty brings their grudging co-operation. As they loosen up, gaining a shiny new badge on their futuristic sashes with each weekly session, it’s no longer clear whether the therapy is working or they’re just playing along. It also becomes less clear whether we should want it to work: to what extent can we really tell people how they should be feeling feelings?
A great joy of speculative fiction is being dropped into a pre-existing world and attempting to work out how it got there. How to Feel Feelings promotes this through a genuinely interesting cast of characters, and oblique references to their “crimes”. The participants don’t seem to know what each other was responsible for, and it’s not immediately clear what the therapy sessions view as “success”. Increasingly, it seems as if the therapist leading the sessions might not be doing what he’s meant to, or perhaps he’s just bad at his job.
But raising these questions is only half the battle; the show also needs to provide some answers. This is where How to Feel Feelings falters, and I left the auditorium knowing almost the same amount about this world as when I went in. At one point, I expected a big twist – perhaps the new power is really the bad guy? Perhaps this isn’t even a state-sponsored intervention? – but these questions don’t just fail to pay off; they remain unresolved.
The audience thus leaves How to Feel Feelings with a bad taste in their mouths. It’s a fascinating idea, and an entertaining watch that draws heavily on humour and intrigue. But knowing that so many of its most interesting ideas go unresolved, I’m hesitant to recommend it.
Show Listing: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/how-to-feel-feelings
LISTINGS INFORMATION:
Venue: Studio, theSpaceTriplex
Dates: Aug 7th–15th
Time: 14:05 (50 mins)
Ticket prices: £12
Fringe box office: 0131 226 0000 / www.edfringe.com
Suitable for 14+