★★★★★
Birdwatching sounds like such a pleasant activity on paper. You can look up into the trees, listen out for all the different sounds, and let the day drift by without a care in the world. This new play from the award-nominated Black Bright Theatre Company however is anything but calm. Birdwatching is a volatile, tense powder keg that drills deeply into adolescent insecurity and paranoia at a time when life seems like it could change forever.
Birdwatching is remarkable for how it uses relatively little in the way of props or set to craft such a potent atmosphere of dread. Visceral sound effects bring the eerie forest environment to life, and the story’s reveal of extra detail is perfectly paced. It all builds to a sensational, unnerving ending that brings the spirit of horror to life far more effectively than many schlocky films or television series. But more so than a scary story, Birdwatching is a story of friendship and femininity that boils over with mistrust. This powder keg gets increasingly close to blowing up as the play approaches its end in a deeply impressive example of pacing.
The play is performed with sensational gravity, power, and realism by the three leading actors. All grappling with their own hauntings and insecurities, they argue so often you do admittedly wonder how any of them ever ended up becoming friends. Alleviating comic relief gives way to increasing levels of despair and hostility, leaving each of the girls more emotionally and physically vulnerable as the hour goes on. It makes for a gripping experience that you daren’t look away from. The paranoia that consumes the girls and how their identities feel so under the spotlight is perhaps far more terrifying than anything lurking in the woods; a testimony to the dramatic and emotional tension of the story.
A nightmarish tale of friendship and change, Birdwatching feels like essential theatre for anyone who feels like an outsider or who believes there is always more to what others think of you. It captures the good, bad, and outright terrifying aspects of being a young woman during times of upheaval, exploiting horror to its full advantage to deliver a distressing and fascinating story.
Birdwatching is being performed at theSpace on the Mile – Space 2 until 10th August 2024 and then at theSpace @ Venue 45 as part of Edinburgh Fringe 2024.
Words by James Hanton
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