BRENDAN Murray's perceptive drama at Salisbury Playhouse Salberg studio expresses the essence of coping with loss. Matty Butler, a 29-year-old man with Down's Syndrome, holds that elusive key: "While the rest of us are feeling sad and angry, he holds on to love,"
This powerful play, a superb sequel to Up Down Boy, stars the charismatic Nathan Bessell as Matty Butler, living alone with his dad, six months after his mum's fatal heart attack. Matty's elegant, musical alter ego, Mr Fox, (Kieran Buckeridge), explains, "I like foxes, badgers, dancing, eating dinner, going bowling, EastEnders, dancing and foxes." Matty, cherishing mementoes of his mother, displays deep understanding of the family's loss but insists that his parents' ruby wedding party should go ahead, to celebrate the years they shared. Heather Williams plays his mum Odette, now immortal; Vic Llewellyn is dad Martin and Emily Bowker is Matty's feisty sister Darcy.
Nathan Bessell's mesmeric dance sequences, choreographed by Bryn Thomas (who plays Jim, the dream boyfriend), are truly magical. The splendidly costumed production, directed by the playwright, offers poignant, funny, endearing insights into the life of a person with that extra chromosome and a remarkable ability to illuminate our own perspectives of life, death and difference.
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