Tales of vomit, trash and broken glass is a thought-provoking, emotive piece of theatre which will take you on a journey.
After an ecological disaster unleashes a neurotoxin into the air, two people are thrust into a series of emotionally-charged vignettes, where they are forced to confront both the nature of their relationships and their own paranoid monkey brains. As waste accumulates, themes are recycled and the rules of this hyper-realistic world grow increasingly absurd, the humans, monsters and cyborgs of this play attempt to chart a path forward. Ultimately, Tales explores the parallel between destructive relationships and environmental destruction, asking the question: in a world full of toxicity, how do we heal?
The performers in this piece work extremely hard to keep the audience engaged. Expect to be in awe of the incredible effort made by the performance in this two-hander. Each actor plays five characters and has done a brilliant job at distinguishing between each without ever seeming repetitive in their characterisation. Cosette Bolt has a brilliant understanding of the text and delivers both the humour and more vulnerable moments well. From the offset she will have you roaring with laughter, she shows no inhibition and appears to be very comfortable which allows the audience to feel comfortable in the actors hands. Nathan Samuel Young’s physicality is a real strength of his throughout the performance, as the play develops he gains more animalistic tendencies which really drive you to think of the nature of evolution and communication. He plays very naturalistic relatable characters in amongst the chaos which is a nice contrast to the world unfolding around them.
Kira Masons writing of this absurdist play is like nothing I’ve seen before. The creativity of this writing is fascinating and I look forward to seeing what she does next. The correlation between interpersonal toxicity and the damage to the environment is a very interesting exploration. There was a fun development of the play from humans to cyborgs to monsters. The dystopian development with the absurdist nature of the play did at times confuse me, however, the base message of the play remains prevalent throughout. The writing holds a mirror up to the audience as you see parts of yourself in the characters even as they venture far beyond human.
Grace Baker has as the director really allowed the writing of this play to breathe on stage. The staging of this show is intimate, the blocking allows the audience to travel through each couple’s story and helps the audience understand the development of the play. The use of props is clever and very effective and the reuse of items as something other than what we have seen before is always fun for the imagination. At times some props feel like they are complicating the piece and are a bit fidgety and could be replaced by simply mime. The direction of the performance as a whole is really effective in delivering the message and addressing subjects which can be reflective and thought provoking for an audience.
During this show they use some British Sign Language. I wasn’t completely satisfied with the use of BSL. British Sign Language is a beautiful, emotive language which is expressive and passionate and although I understand why it has been used in the performance it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. BSL is used towards the latter half of the play as the communication between the couples break down further in this absurdist play. Although I feel sign language is an effective tool and has potential in this play it is not entirely inclusive. On the ticket website it seems that there is only one BSL interpreted show on the 21st of August as well as a relaxed performance on the 15th. Although I appreciate the company’s efforts in allowing their productions to be more inclusive and their consideration of others, unfortunately only using sign language intermittently would make for a very confusing time for some deaf audience members. I also understand the difficulty in requiring interpreters for these performances and this may be partially why there is only one fully interpreted performance planned.
Tales of Vomit, Trash and Broken Glass is a thought provoking, reflective social commentary which leaves the audience questioning their relationship with toxicity in the world. Although at times confusing this piece is highly engaging and intellectually stimulating. The play has done more than most to make the play inclusive and although I commend them on their efforts unfortunately the play is slightly let down by the intermittent use of BSL.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/tales-of-vomit-trash-and-broken-glass
Theatre Scotland 
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