Show: The Last Will And Testament Of Henry Van Dyke
Format: Play
Writer: Karrim Jalali
Director: Joy Harrison
Date: February 15 2020
Location: Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool.
It’s a play within a play, a musical within a musical, a film within a film. And it’s a well-known and well-used style as was pointed out in Act 3. It’s Karrim Jalali’s The Last Will And Testament of Henry Van Dyke at Liverpool’s Hope Street Theatre.
The Last Will And Testament Of Henry Van Dyke
Description Of The Last Will And Testament Of Henry Van Dyke
So what makes this one different? Well, it doesn’t, but it does. The play within the play is the play you’re watching and one that starts in the middle of a conversation. A conversation that for some reason has Person 1 with their legs up in the air in the iconic ‘lighting fart’ position. Yeah, there are no character names here. It doesn’t need it. This hour-long performance is taken up with a conversation between Persons 1 and 2. One which to me at least, feels familiar.
Maybe it’s my love/hate addiction to reality TV but watching people I don’t know have a seemingly mundane conversation is a comfortable place for me to be. Jalili tests and challenges his audience through a series of contradictions which on the face of it, don’t seem like contradiction.
Musician
We learn Person 1 is the writer (Jalali presumably) and Person 2 is a failed musician. The conversation is implied to have already happened and what we saw was pretty much acting out that conversation verbatim and we’re just along for ride. 2, takes relish in pointing out how stupid he sees 1; how 2 is so much more learned about pretty much everything. And in here lies the test. 1 is the fool and yet 1 is Jalili.
However, 2 is also Jalili as he’s the one writing for both. The focus is the writer of the play and not necessarily what’s in the play. So did this conversation actually ever happen, or is this simply the vehicle for the message? Who knows. It’s a dip of the toe for this writer. A writer who sees himself as a rule-breaker and cleverer than most. Maybe. I mean, who says Act 3 needs to be the shortest in a three-act play? Person 2 does, but then Jalili disagrees and does what he likes.
Analysis Of The Last Will And Testament Of Henry Van Dyke
At times, the on-stage writer (Person 1) seems to be in that Jimmy Corkill-esque final episode of Brookie monologue mode. He knows that the audience knows that he’s preaching. We all know he’s setting up and reinforcing the direction of the play, but we don’t care. It’s clever. Maybe. Fourth wall breaks are there, but not as much as you’d think.
Stage directions are there, like literally. A whole sequence of stage directions recited while they’re acted out as 1 and 2 work their way through a series of ways in which to convey the passing of time and the travelling over distance. It’s good. No, it’s fun. The repeat of a bottle throw while crossing from upstage left to down centre stage makes you realise the first time around it was what they then discussed to do to show the passing of time. Or travelling. Or something. I forget. It’s a ‘gotcha’ moment though.
Summary Of The Last Will And Testament Of Henry Van Dyke
Two blokes, two seats, one hour of not too deep, not too clever and not too much. The whole thing feels familiar and yet fresh. Not ‘Spring Fresh’ but definitely fresher than 2’s banana. The Last Will And Testament Of Henry Van Dyke is a great bit of theatre escapism. And there’s a clever angle to the traditional. What’s more, you’re out by 20:30 and in the pub to discuss and compare notes. Definitely recommended.
