Sometimes a Fringe show will turn out to be something so completely different to what you expected. For example, Clive at Assembly Rooms is about a man whose best friend is a cactus. It is also one of the most devastating shows I have seen at the Fringe.
Paul Keating is Thomas, a loquacious and friendly IT manager. He loves his job and gets on well with his co-workers. At least, he did, until his company went remote. Now Thomas works from home. His only co-worker is a South American cactus named Clive, who he cares for and talks to throughout the day. But there’s danger afoot. A new boss takes over at Thomas’s work, and soon his life and his mind begin to fall apart.
Unsurprisingly, a major theme in Clive is social isolation and overreliance on technology, but not in a “Kids these days” way. Thomas uses technology as a stand-in for human connection, but we clearly understand and empathise with why he does this. Clive is about what happens when the world is made consistently unsafe for people. Indeed, some of the most uncomfortable moments are when Thomas uses technology in a way that he finds positive, dancing on his own to disco music or excitedly telling the audience about the special lights he’s had installed so that Alexa can turn his living room into a jungle, or Mexico. All ways he is distracting himself from his deepening isolation.
Clive can be a difficult watch, especially for anyone who has ever had experience with adult bullying. This is largely due to the considerable talent of Keating, who is immediately engaging and endearing as Thomas. It is therefore very hard to watch anything bad happen to him. As the play reaches its climax, Keating pulls no punches and delivers a truly gut-wrenching performance.
The set was very clever and served the story well. I loved how it changed over the course of the narrative to reflect Thomas’s mindset. Music and lighting are also highly effective in foreshadowing.
Clive is a dark horse of this year’s Fringe. Deceptively whimsical in its marketing, it’s an emotional rollercoaster that will stick with you for days afterwards. Highly recommended viewing.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
