Reviewed by Jordan D'Arcy
Same Time Next Week is an original musical written and directed by local playwright Scott McArdle. It follows a group of friends and their intentionally unnamed tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) campaign and includes some really heavy subplots of handling grief, death, and loved ones getting very sick.
This production captured in a word would be “ingenuity”. There were so, so, many facets that must have taken significant time and effort to collate into the very polished piece of theatre I saw. The script and execution of some of the campaign scenes perfectly captured how out of hand some plot lines can get when the players in the party get a tad carried away in their roleplaying – one scene in particular that I would describe as graphically silly was an audience favourite.
It would be totally remiss of me not to dedicate a whole paragraph to the puppets and the actors’ puppeteering abilities. I was completely immersed in the campaign world and very much felt the pull back into reality every time the characters were brought back into their real world, largely due to the detail of the puppets and the skill their puppeteers brought them to life with. The props and puppets themselves were amazingly intricate, a particular highlight being the transition from the hardly thought-out first campaign session to the fully fleshed-out world the characters spend most of their time in.
This show has a very strong ensemble and really has one of each type of person you find in every TTRPG campaign. Nick Pages-Oliver as Mark was beautiful, and was the perfect embodiment of the purest person in your party that just wants to have fun, but takes the game appropriately seriously. Amberly Cull was excellent as Drew, the reluctant dungeon master turned evil mastermind. Tristan McInnes as Digby was exactly perfect as the well-intentioned know-it-all from your party who just wants to make sure all the lore is properly followed. Courtney Henri brought the audience to tears a number of times as Liz, also reluctant at first, but slowly warms up to the game. Daniel Buckle was excellent in his several smaller roles – in particular, I enjoyed the game shop owner scene (especially because it was maybe a tad too realistic for comfort).
The original music by Jackson Griggs was stunning. Both the sung-through numbers and the underscoring were an imperative part of the world-building of the show. The set (designed by Bryan Wottjen) instantly transported you into the game world – think puppet show crossed with an old Globe-style theatre. Costumes by Rosalie Schneider really brought the last little details together, with Drew the dungeon master’s costume and Mark’s beanie in the second act matching the set curtains perfectly.
Overall this show was stunning. The years of work in development have absolutely paid off, and if you have an opportunity to see it, take it.
Reviewer Note: Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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