Getting a Drink at the End of the World is written and directed by Daisy Hills and follows Leo (Jesse James Lamb) and Michelle (Inês Drumond), bartenders in a busy cocktail bar, as they navigate the final days of Earth due to a world-ending event. 

The play starts with a recorded government radio announcement that the world will be destroyed in 7 months following a meteor hit. Michelle has just started her first day in the cocktail bar and is striving to live normally, maintaining a routine, Leo on the other hand is adopting a more laissez faire attitude and is ‘ok with it’.

If the world was ending tomorrow, you’d probably get drunk, have sex or hug your family, but 7 months? Food must be put on the table and life goes on but there was very little of the outside world in Daisy Hill’s script. The two actors are considered almost in isolation from the global event. How do you handle common life events, a broken romance or the death of a family member, does it feel irrelevant or more significant given how long they have? There is much to say about the lack of supplies, but we are given no indication of who is drinking. Introducing some mood music or lighting would give a more definite indication of the bar’s operating hours.

I feel more could be made of the sound effects to add jeopardy to the play. It takes a while to realise that there is a steady beat behind the music. A slower, more pronounced beat would heighten the sense of time running out and add a more ominous feeling.

There is much to like about this performance, but sadly it lacks impact.

3 stars

Reviewed by Nina Gardner

Originally Showing at The Etcetera Theatre this event has now finished. For further information about the play and Cried Wolf Productions see the link below

https://www.criedwolfproductions.com/