Abyss Review – Horror on the Thames in a Mystifying Musical Dystopia | stage

THis musical about climate disaster is set in a tower overlooking the River Thames. The setting is central because the dystopia resulted from a biomedical waste dump in the river. London is flooded and this apartment on the 16th floor is the safest place to live.

Or so it seems, because things are very ambiguous in this experimental production. Created by director Adam Linson, Stu Barter, Rachel Pellman, Annabelle Lee Revack, Darren Clarke, and Shay Bolton Richards, it brings an electric folk sound to small stories in two time zones. There are the survivors of the apartment tower – it’s not clear what century they’re in until towards the end when they mention the year 2425 – and a second story set in the past which may be set in the 1990s (there’s talk of DVDs) in which a couple move into a luxury high-rise overlooking the Thames (same flat on the 16th floor?).

Ash (Eric Stroud) is a scientist, and Emily (Holly Freeman) is a government employee. Both are easily implicated in the coming climate catastrophe. The short scenes take us through their relationship and the toxic waste story, but they feel like filler between the songs.

The music is meditative in its rhythm and builds the story rather than pushing it, especially as the relationship between the couple begins to deteriorate. Some of the instrumental accompaniment is nice (with synth, guitar, cello and harmonica) but the songs aren’t infectious in their own right, with tired lyrics that aspire to a feeling of emotional interiority but come off as trite and pedestrian. There’s a story about the game of Monopoly, another about a mysterious person who doesn’t seem to belong in this musical, and another about the rise of antimicrobial resistance, which is completely exaggerated.

Its various branches are promising but none are sufficiently engaging or advanced. There’s random world-building within the dystopia: we meet characters as they celebrate “balance” (what’s that?) and give thanks to its founder, Robin Blake (who’s that?). There’s a deadly Hunger Games-style tombola that ends with one of the residents being evacuated but we don’t gather enough details about the dangers of the world outside this tower, so the stakes remain low. A character named Biscuit (Max Alexander-Taylor) gets the short straw but we know too little about his backstory or fears to neutralize the power of this story. The flashbacks lack significance and the initial facts are revealed too late (we are told that martial law was established in this society in the year 2034).

The quest to create a new musical form that breaks boundaries is clear, but the attempt at re-understanding overshadows the drama.