Image credit: Mihaela Bodlovic
Written and Performed by Nathan Queeley-Dennis
Directed by Dermot Daly
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE
In 2022 I watched an excerpt from this winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting at the Royal Exchange Theatre. It felt fresh and vibrant and the words seemed to come alive in the space. Receiving the award was actor and first time playwright Nathan Queeley-Dennis who also seemed to bounce unto the stage with an unbridled joy and enthusiasm. Two years on via a highly successful reception at the Edinburgh Fringe and midway through a national tour Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz revisits this stage and owns it with all the surety and panache of a worthy winner.
This one hour monologue celebrates the writers’ home city of Birmingham as Queeley-Dennis brings to life his local barbershop, the call centre where he works and his favourite rum bar via dark Techno clubs and rooftop vistas at dawn. Watching this performance in the round is like witnessing a masterclass in how to deftly work the room as an accomplished stand up comedian. Fluid delivery and perfect timing ensure that every carefully crafted line lands exactly as intended. There is a vivid poetry in scenes that describe his almost erotic connection with his barber or his cautious stepping into the world of his beloved Techno which has been appropriated and whitewashed. Dotted through this monologue are carefully placed options in his life that include picking from a trio of emergency barbers or a trio of emergency toilet states. They all in their own way allude to a sense of anxiety or otherness at odds in this seemingly happy well adjusted guy in his mid twenties.
Nathan is an Arts graduate working in a call centre and trying to date but this is a man whose passion to create is being increasingly dulled by his workplace environment. His serial dating is not that of a heartless predator but a man on a mission to find the “one”…or at least the one who shares a name with a member of Destiny’s Child and has well moisturised elbows. His forays into the world of dating are both painfully funny or bittersweet and at times involve placing his heart in the hands of emotional terrorists. When he finally lands a date with a woman who might just be perfect for him, the audience are routing for this charming young man but the sudden shift in pace suggest his happy ending may not be on a rooftop overlooking his beloved Birmingham but may indeed yet be as a Brummie Basquiat.
Under the care of Director Dermot Daly who clearly relishes every word of this well crafted script, Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz sings on every level. Whether in the cleverly placed soundbites of songs from Destiny’s Child or Queeley-Dennis delivering some high energy rapping or musing on the nature of strawberries and owls to the faint trace of Stan Getz there is a musicality to this production that will play in your head long after leaving the theatre.
Live Art Alive 