By Anna Hayes
The concept of the ‘tortured artist’ takes on a very contemporary twist in Claire Frost’s debut play ‘Instructions Not Included’, a nifty two-hander that explores the connections between creativity and consumerism.
Parker (Sarah Clarke) is a struggling playwright, desperate to write something meaningful, something that will help her to come to terms with a past trauma. But she is stuck and questions her every move and word.
Enlisting the help of Marley (Heather Valentine), a marketing guru, is perhaps not what she needs at the outset as Marley’s focus is solely on selling Parker’s brand, whether she’s successful or not.
The play explores the somewhat symbiotic relationship between saying something and selling something and does so with a lot of nuance. This begins with poking fun at their respective careers – Parker is jokingly dismissed by Marley as being ‘just an actor’ (paraphrased), while Parker is less than impressed by the instant gratification culture of TikTok dances and posting selfies to social media.
Both characters are slaves in their own way: Marley to her phone and the fear of presenting in the wrong way online; Parker to the niggling self-doubt around her art and the desire to write something perfect. Both are haunted by similar trauma and are dealing, or attempting to deal, with it in very different ways.
It’s hard to say a lot more without divulging too much of the plot but, what impressed me the most about this play was its freshness, despite the relative universality of the theme. This isn’t a play about an influencer realising their ‘brand’ is vapid and empty, nor is it a play about a writer who sells out to what a focus group wants.
The intricacy in Frost’s writing comes in weaving both of these trains of thought together – neither side wins and, at the end, you realise that the answer probably lies in a mix of both viewpoints.
The undercurrent of this existential debate is, of course, the personal issues that Parker and Marley are coming to terms with and, as their artistic debate rages, the cathartic nature of good art seems to help them take the first step on a path to healing.
The Speakeasy Theatre provides an intimate and fun setting for the play, with a curving stage bringing the action around the room. Some well-placed set pieces allow the actors to use different levels throughout the play and even some audience participation is required.
The lighting is kept relatively simple, the director choosing instead to let the actions and words on the stage do the heavy lifting. The sound is generally used simply as a scene change mechanism that, with each new vignette, conveys the passage of time.
It was something that my fiancé commented on – what he saw as an element of disjointedness – but I think that worked well to convey the nature of creativity. Nobody sits down and writes a play in a day, or a novel in a week; the very nature of the practice is disjointed, and I personally could relate to an awful lot of the discussion around that process.
Sarah Clarke is excellent as Parker, shifting seamlessly from the angst-ridden self-deemed failure to the hopeful artist, keen to say something that matters and means something to people. She perfectly embodies the integrity (and elements of naivety) of someone who thinks that brilliance, or talent, is enough.
Meanwhile, Heather Valentine has a lot of fun in the role of Marley, brandishing a façade of breeziness, and seeming to be unfazed by anything. One of the notable things was her movement on stage – she’s bouncy and energetic which is used to great effect, initially to highlight that carefree attitude but as things progress, it gradually transforms into what feels more like nervous energy and, eventually, stillness.
There are lots of elements within the script where the girls are talking to each other but not really having the same conversation, which all serves to build tension.
As I say, it’s difficult to really say too much more without giving away elements of the plot, suffice to say that if you are looking for something fresh and fun, brimming with heart and wit, ‘Instructions Not Included’ is well worth the price of admission.
It runs until October 6 at the Speakeasy Theatre.
