From the moment Chris Thorpe, one half of the exceptional duo behind this show, walked into the lobby of the theatre to gather his audience, I starting to feel at ease. This is something that together they do so well, especially given that the show has the potential to be quite an awkward experience if you weren’t guided through properly. Thorpe and Hannah Walker are the perfect navigators to lead their audience through the minefield of misread signs, uncomfortable slips and accidental emails.
The show takes place in what looks like an office meeting room. Post-its litter the table and pens and pencils are left at in front of every seat. Upon being given a cup of tea the audience sits and the show commences with tales of the titular Oh Fuck Moment. The dialogue jumps seamlessly back and forth between Thorpe and Walker as they disclose their own personal moments and as the show progresses, you start to see that it isn’t a simple as looking at stupid things that we might have done in the past. It becomes a real exploration of what makes these moments so poignant. By jumping from humorous anecdotes to instances of real tragedy, the duo manage to unveil a touching portrait of human interaction.
That dialogue works so well in this setting because Thorpe and Walker never seem to start acting. They invited us into this setting as equals, allowing us to share what they have discovered. At no point does the show stop feeling genuinely heartfelt. As a pair, they have been devising performance poetry for over a year and they have definitely touched a brilliantly unique style of delivery. They have mastered the intimate, almost round-table, performance and made it their own. With such acute control of the style, they succeed in creating an office meeting that brushes by support group and lands neatly in a celebration of those moments that make us human.
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The Oh F__k Moment is on a brief holiday pause, but returns to the tour of the country at the end of the month.
Find out more about Hannah Walker and Chris Thorpe.
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