I have to admit, I was excited about this show because of its title. After all, who doesn’t like a guessing game?
Taking my seat in the theatre, I entertained the possibilities. Could the mystery phrase be Everything is Shut, and we were about to be treated to a story of arriving in a small country town on a Sunday afternoon?
Or perhaps the secret phrase was Everything is Shot, and in store for us tonight was a re-creation of a wrap party, that wild celebration that marks the finalisation of filming, when it’s all in the can?
Lost in anticipation as I was, you can imagine my utter shock when I learned that the missing word was Shit!
Everything is Shit!!!
Some people might be comfortable with scatological language, and perhaps even enjoy it (like pigs in shit, as the saying goes.) But even the faecally tolerant might object to the gross generalisation in the title.
After all, everything is not shit.
As an indisputable piece of evidence, I offer this show.
It’s decidedly not shit.
This rock cabaret is terrific.
Writer and performer Andy Freeborn has a glorious stage presence. Freeborn’s songs are amusing and poignant. The band is magnificent. Outrageous metaphor warning: the band is a boa constrictor – steel-tight but very much alive. It’s an absolute delight to hear Freeborn on the keyboards jam with this team, making magic before our ears. I especially enjoyed Austin Hal on drums and Alec Steedman on violin, as they respond to Freeborn’s choices with lightning speed, or when they send down a few electrifying bolts of their own. (Snakes, and now lightning; my figurative language is clearly struggling to capture the energy on stage.) Creating a wonderful texture, Ren McMeiken takes lead vocals for a few of Freeborn’s songs, and displays a voice that’s pure gold. (Reptiles, climatic events and now metallurgy.)
So, back to that title. It refers to the trauma that Freeborn’s family suffered because of their parent’s marriage breakdown.
The show is a sharing.
I’ve mention before the preponderance of sharings currently on our stages. Perhaps this genre has always overlapped with the genre of cabaret.
I’m not a huge fan of either genre. As a lover of language, cabaret often doesn’t do it for me. Despite the potential beauty of the lyrics, they’re often so difficult to catch on first hearing. And the banter between songs leaves me cold. (If Life is a cabaret, it’s because so much of it is either incomprehensible or superficial.) And I don’t usually warm to sharings because I chose to attend a theatre not a support group.
As a sharing, this work values honesty and openness. Freeborn appears utterly committed to honesty; for example, they admit their banter is entirely unscripted, a totally unnecessary confession. At other times they appear more reticent, leaving us to guess at their experiences. I have no problem with this; a catalogue of traumatic events is rarely entertaining. And, anyway, in the titular song, Freeborn sings Everything is Shit, but that’s Ok. They’ve found a way out of the darkness.
Freeborn calls the show a healing through song. I’m glad it is, for the artist. For us, the show’s simply an absolutely joyous paean to resilience and transformation.
Veronica Kaye
Everything is Sh*t by Andy Freeborn
At Old Fitzroy Theatre until March 1
Image by HollyMae Steane Price
Theatre Red 
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