Last Drinks

CAST: 4 male, 1 female

SYNOPSIS: In a dimly lit bar, the sound of a ticking clock fills the air, save for the intermittent whistling of the wind outside. Venus, a bartender, pulls pints for her regular patrons, Stout (who is missing his right arm), Portoz (who is missing his left arm), Mead (sinewy and grizzled old man in a large overcoat) and Dram (who is intently reading from a large, though blank, book). They occupy the time in confused, fragmentary conversation reflecting memory loss, the passage of time, and the monotony of their existence. Mead repeatedly shuffles between the bar, the toilet, and his seat as Venus reads from a faded magazine. Amidst their musings, Mead, Portoz, and Stout continue to drink, realizing that they are reaching the end of the barrel, though resigned to the absurdly cyclical nature of their lives.

Their conversation veers toward the philosophical and introspective at times, but contradiction and repetition limits the characters' ability to understand much of what has happened to them, or may happen in their equally limited future. Despite this, there is solace to be found in the simple act of talking, confusion tolerable insofar as it is shared. The conversation shifts again to the toilet, Stout and Portoz aiming to go together, but giving up when realising that they would not fit through the doorframe at the same time. In the play’s closing moments, the sound of the wind grows to a howl, and the characters become aware of the sense of an ending, though whether this refers to their lives, the play they are in, or something else entirely, is unclear. The ticking clock stops.

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“Downright outrageous… If you like absurdist comedy in the realm of Waiting For Godot or Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco then Last Drinks will be right up your street… Duncan Ley as with Stephen Fry has a way with word play.

(Fringe Review)