Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: David Cartwright, Sam Berrill, Alex Monk.

Not many evenings starts with three scientists arguing over the relative value of being able to extract the thought processes and the sometimes synaptic misfires in which hold the key to every person’s desires and ills. However Manic Chord Theatre, by intelligent word play and the same insane careful design attributed to the formation of random events that make life in the Universe possible, are able to show in 55 minutes just exactly what happens when you begin to think outside of the box in their play After What Comes Before.

Never let a Neurologist, Physicist and Psychologist out together nor indeed should you let them play together indoors alone and unsupervised either as David Cartwright, Sam Berrill and Alex Monk present a play which as entertaining as it is in its bustling energy and physical appreciation could be seen to ask a bit more than the usual offering. This is laudable in itself; theatre needs to push not just the boundaries of its own sometimes near castrated domains but also that of the audience who come to see it. If an explanation be needed then surely a Physicist with a sense of humour, the ones who explain that a Quark is just a noise that a rather posh duck makes, would be on hand to guide the play along. That said, no matter how admirable, and After What Comes Before is that, revolutions sometimes need to be taken slowly to get the point across to all.

Each member of the cast was courageous in their delivery, the odd complexity of the tale becoming clearer as the hour summoned and the script, though lofty, certainly raised a smile in all the right places and the humour bang on the button when it comes to the idea of the psychosis affecting each idea. Sam Berrill in particular was to be praised for his eye catching performance and whilst at times it may have been easier on the eye to hear the words spoken, to really get deep down and dirty with clever insights rather than sometimes being engulfed in a wall of pure instinctive physical humour, what came across was a labour of love for Manic Chord Theatre and their play.

A play that might need the odd tweak here and there to really get under the microscope of this spectrum of life but one in which should be strived and reflected upon.

Ian D. Hall