REVIEW: THE WETSUITMAN by Freek Mariën at the Rose Lipman Building 2 – 13 November 2022

‘Innovative and memorable theatre’ ★★★★★ 

In 2015, off the coast of Norway, a retired architect stumbled across a wetsuit with the remains of a body inside. Local detectives were stumped and when another identical wetsuit washed up in the Netherlands, a dogged journalist was motivated to dig deeper. Before it became an award-winning play by the talented Flemish writer, Freek Mariën, dynamically translated for this production by David McKay, the case of the ‘wetsuit man’ was a passing media sensation. 

While the premise of The Wetsuitman may sound like your standard Nordic Noir procedural, nothing could be further from this innovative and memorable theatre experience. In a cavernous room and stripped back production, three energetic, heartfelt performances from David Djemal, Eugenia Low and Youness Bouzinab fully embody 28 roles. In four dramatic scenes, each with their own identity and trajectory, we journey from Norway and Holland to Calais and Syria.

Applying the principles of a promenade performance, audience members can sit, stand or move while the cast also move around the audience in an orderly way. Sparse almost non-existent sets comprise a handful of plastic chairs and some microphones, positioned at four points of the compass: North, East, South and West. As the audience turn towards the actors, they ripple in and out like waves. This sense of constant movement dramatises the key theme and is conceptually profound.

Structurally fresh and beautifully choreographed, this polyphonic piece cleverly turns the audience into the smarter detectives as scene by scene, they piece together the puzzle to complete one whole picture. While the facts provide a skeletal foundation, the play also explores genre clichés, pre-conceptions, common misunderstandings and misrepresentations. Through a dramatic smorgasbord of characters, from a creepy Norwegian pathologist to a racist shopkeeper in the Netherlands, an immigrant interpreter in Calais to an ever-hopeful Syrian mother, action and emotions build with sure-footed skill.

While constant media stories of treacherous boat crossings have hardened hearts to the shocking refugee reality, The Wetsuitman humanizes the plight and takes audiences on an emotional parallel voyage. You are not whopped over the head by an overbearing agenda or told what to think but seduced by laughter, captivated by performances and ultimately moved by the denouement. Humour might not seem the obvious treatment for such a grim subject but it’s used to disarm and soften audiences before the blows. We are painfully reminded of the thousands of fleeing, below-radar, off-grid individuals. “How can you be a missing person when officially you’re not even here?” asks one official metaphorically washing his hands.

‘Theatre beyond Borders’ is the motto of Hackney-based micro theatre, Foreign Affairs behind The Wetsuitman and since 2010, they’ve presented more than twenty-five new English Language translations. Co-artistic directors, Trine Garrett and Camila França aim to ‘promote cross cultural translations of new work, theatre in translation, intercultural collaboration, and performance in unconventional spaces’. In 2016, they launched a mentorship programme for emerging theatre translators and The Wetsuitman is one result of this laudable initiative. Previously performed in New York and Antwerp, this is the UK’s first performance and it’s not to be missed.

Photograhy: Tim Morozzo

THE WETSUITMAN by Freek Mariën translated by David McKay

Rose Lipman Building, N1 5SQ

02 – 13 November, 2022

Box Office https://www.foreignaffairs.org.uk/productions/the-wetsuitman/

Reviewed by Nilgin Yusuf

An experienced author, lecturer and journalist (ex-Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and ELLE) Nilgin is developing her first full-length stage play, supported by Mrs.C’s Collective and the Arts Council