Have I No Mouth

[author-post-rating] (3/5 Stars)

Death. The word is enough to cause my insides to churn with the sinking realisation that yes, death lies ahead, and yes, death has already laid his hands upon my family, and will only continue to do so. Death is, and will always be, the thing that I fear the most. Death of family, of loved ones, of myself. Have I No Mouth by Irish theatre company Brokentalkers tackles the subject of death in a remarkably personal performance piece with Co-Director Feidlim Cannon performing alongside his mother Ann Cannon and psychotherapist Erich Keller, looking at the death of his father and baby brother. It doesn’t get anymore personal than that, and as we sit watching this unfold, the uncomfortable feeling of watching something intensely intimate and personal gnaws at you.

The intimacy feels as if, stripping back the theatrical devices used to explore Have I No Mouth, you’re peering into the complex web of family relationships both physical and mental as they break, mend, and resolve themselves to accepting death into their lives. This intimacy is both the shining beacon of the production and also the gaping flaw. We can all relate to death; it’s a universal thing (even if, like me, you choose to ignore it at all costs), so Have I No Mouth resonates with the audience, but the theatrically, the set-up of the work, puts up a barrier. It’s hard to explain without seeing the work, but placing this within a theatrical setting makes it strangely unaccessible, but oddly, the theme at large resonates and becomes something tangible.

Perhaps it is the presence of Keller’s calming voice guiding the Cannons in discussing their relationship to each other, and the death of their father/husband and brother/son that makes for Have I No Mouth feel a bit “theatre-as-therapy”. At times it feels as if we’re witnessing the first time mother and son have challenged each other on their views of death and their family. Other times it feels remote and set-up, with Ann delivering her lines on cue, and Feidlim responding on cue, and it all comes together with false connection.

Underneath the performance is complex, raw and – if we were allowed to be affected – emotional performance piece. Brokentalkers’s challenging and provocative approach to this piece is rooted in the personal, and it’s clear that it can’t have been an easy making process – you can’t help but to applaud their work. There are not many companies which are willing to allow their creativity and their personal lives to get so closely intwined. They interrogate, and use the material with skill and poignancy. Whilst it doesn’t completely translate for me, it certainly proves that death shouldn’t be shunned, but nor should it be completely embraced. It’s complex, but it’s manageable, and sadly, it has to happen. Have I No Mouth just brings us a step closer to this, with or without us wanting to.

Have I No Mouth is at the Traverse Theatre until 25 August. For more information and tickets visit the Edinburgh Fringe website.