How To Bury A Dead Mule is a solo show that sees Richard Clements tell his grandfather –
Norman Clements’ story – a story shared by thousands and thousands of men that served in
the Second World War and severely suffered subsequently with what they had witnessed.
Arriving at the Edinburgh Fringe – Pleasance Done – after an acclaimed run in Belfast this
year, it is a meditative and moving show about the lasting mental damage done by war.
The show is written by Richard Clements and the writing is so striking and beautiful. Telling
the take of his grandfather through three different generations of his life – from young soldier, to a struggling older man trying to navigate through his new reality and his grandfather in his twilight years, alone at home. The writing does his story justice and explores every avenue of life, from love, to loss and everything in between. An uncountable amount of veterans suffer from the issues that this story delves in to; PTSD, Schizophrenia, and even just trying to adapt to reality again outside of the trauma experienced on deployment, and this representation of these issues was greatly done by Clements. The mix of spoken word and normal text was a great and fresh collaboration as the interchanging of the two kept the whole show intriguing and crisp.
Clements’ performance was nothing short of outstanding. Each element to his craft was fine
tuned to perfection. He had a great energy throughout the entire one man show, showcasing
his ability and skill level with highs and lows; clear cut projection and a fantastic emotional
character arc. The performance took you on the journey, filling in the gaps along the way
and keeping the audience thoroughly engaged in its entirety. Clements’ pacing of the story
could seem quite hectic at times but even at this fast pace, nothing from the story was lost
and you could still follow along quite easily. The distinguishing between the different eras of
Norman Clements’ could possibly be clearer as at times it did seem to jump timelines,
however this took nothing away from the show. Clements’ hit every emotion necessary for
the piece and had the audience hitting those emotions with him.
The set design was very simple and yet very creative. The box layout was used for a
numerous amount of different things and it was utilised cleverly for its adaptability.
The lighting was spectacular to say the least. The lighting of the set created the tone and
atmosphere of each section of the play and the other characters – Clements’ wife, child etc –
were all portrayed by a coloured spotlight, eliminating the need for a stand in performer and showcasing a more stylistic way of representing more minor roles as an actor standing in as these roles may have taken away from the piece in retrospect.
The projections were a fantastic addition to the story. Playing old archived footage from the
war and his grandfather’s history, as well as creating some amazing visuals for the audience
as Clements interacted with the projections. This was a very smart way of creating the
setting of each historical moment in the story and gave the audience another element to
watch and be drawn to.
In conclusion, the story of Norman Clements is amazing and one that many others could
relate to. Richard Clements and his team have really done his story justice and created a
piece of theatre that anyone could – and would – love to experience.
‘How to Bury a Dead Mule’ is performing from August 10th-15th, 17th-20th & 22nd-27th at
Venue 23, Pleasance Dome’s JackDome room @ 11:50am. Get your tickets here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/how-to-bury-a-dead-mule
Theatre Scotland 
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