Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen – Bush Theatre, London

A transfer from the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen is at the Bush Theatre. This wry and witty character study takes a look at hook up culture, emotional connection, and the unreliable narrators of confessional comedy.

Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen

Well, do you? Ever feel afraid, as if something terrible is going to happen? A little existential angst when things seem to be going a little too well?  Or when they’re not, but the existential void beckons nonetheless?  Our unnamed (and unreliable) narrator in Marcelo Dos Santos’s Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen certainly does.  

He’s a comedian who is reasonably happy with his life.  Or not, but it’s fine, right? But then he meets a guy.  A seemingly perfect, American guy.  A seemingly perfect, American guy from Boston, Massachusetts.  Or does Sacramento, California work better?  Right, let’s try that again from the top.

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Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen is an hour-long work of theatre, told in the first person in the style of a stand up comedy set.  It’s funny while being uncomfortably real, sometimes devastating, and consistently entertaining.  It’s a one man show, with Samuel Barnett (last seen by this blogger in Straight Line Crazy) reprising the role he initiated at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe.  Matthew Xia also returns to direct.

Ambiguity And Uncertainty, Comedy-Style

Feeling Afraid… is a funny, messy, sometimes raw look at the vulnerability required for genuine human connection.  This isn’t a new topic, I would actually say its a fairly frequent topic of one man shows. But what is different here is the structure Dos Santos gives it.  Our comedian is wry and wittily self-deprecating.  But he constantly leaves us guessing: what is real? What is invented? What is he playing up for laughs?   Is he really letting his guard down now, or is this another bit?  

It’s not often I feel so untethered at the theatre, but I have to say I rather liked the feeling of uncertainty.  It’s a sort of curious but rather pleasant discomfort.  Like… well I’m not going to use any of the analogies I could pull from the playtext, you’ll have to go see for yourself.  The effect is to put you in the emotional space Dos Santos explores: unsure of yourself and of your reception by the other.

The textual ambiguity is reinforced by a deep-thrust set in the style of a comedy club (Kat Heath), with lighting (Elliot Griggs) which also lives in the space between showtime and reality.  It’s as clever and as effective as the text itself.  And Barnett is superb. He’s nailed the timing and ease with the audience of a stand-up comic. Meanwhile Xia’s direction wrings out all of the manic energy, cringy encounters, quiet moments, sadness, joy and fragility.

The end, when it comes, is unexpected.  Did that terrible thing happen after all?  You’ve got until 23 December to find out.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen on until 23 December 2023