Miss Myrtle's Garden Review
- KhaiShaw
- Jun 9
- 4 min read
Miss Myrtle's Garden by Danny James King
Bush Theatre 31st of May - 12th of July
Review by PlaysPlaylist
Lost One - Jazmine Sullivan
When you first enter the space you are met by Khadija Raza's delightfully simple space. A small circular plot of grass, flowers surrounding every piece of its edge, a few chairs and some drains to collect the water needed to water each flower. Oh and a giant ring glowing with multiple colours above it. Simple. And yet as the play unfolds, every joke, sharp tongued jab, and every revelation is made within the confines of this garden. And alongside some clever cues and reverberating echoes courtesy of Dan Balfour and Joshua Gadsby... it begins to feel as though the space is alive. Almost like a time capsule. The memories held within the garden for fear that without it they will be lost forever. Despite our characters losing themselves with every passing moment, the garden remains, just as the memories of our loved ones do even as we and they may begin to lose them too. And the more they work the garden the more it becomes a part of who they are. A sentiment beautifully echoed by Jazmine on Lost One. The beautifully bare acoustic tone and the subtle background vocals all allow for Jazmine's sultry tone to shine. It makes her admitting to using vices to cope with the loss of her love even more powerful, just as the garden does for our characters in this play.
Chamber of Reflection - Mac Demarco
This show marks the first to be directed by Taio Lawson at the Bush and it's a wonderful debut for him in this space. His feel for pace is particularly impressesive; the show moves along at a perfect clip. Smooth enough to allow us to sit with the weight of Myrtle's increasingly damaging dementia and pacy enough that we feel her slipping further and further away from us. It is a delicate balance and one Lawson finds with real aplomb. Mac Demarco's Chamber of Reflection finds a similar vein. The woozy synths and laboured drums and bass put you into an almost trance like state, never seeming to give you any respite. As the loops of the musical phrases continue, the words "alone again" crooned on by Demarco creep into your mind, further perpetuating this endless loop of isolation. A feeling that I'm sure the characters within the play know all too well.
They Cant' Take That Away from Me - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
"The way you've changed my life. No they can't take that away from me" is the defiant claim beautifully sung by Ella Fitzgerald on this record. Her cadence, her skill... it all seamlessley blends as she clings onto the memory of her great love. A generational talent and one that has to be matched by a near flawless performance. And my goodness me does Diveen Henry offer that and then some.
Her ability to flit from sharp wit and humour to a childlike innocence as her illness deepens is extraordinary. As time bends around her she holds the space and the show together with ease. She allows us to see the small cracks in her being, her vulnerability surrounding her fear of missing her son and husband, for just long enough to show us her heart and then hide it again, behind her all too familiar hard exterior. It is so reminiscent of all of the black women who have had to mask their pain in order to raise their loved ones high. The line "One of us had to be hard so the other could be soft' comes to mind. We long for the moments between her and Melrose (played wonderfully by Mensah Bediako) and pray that they can last forever, just to suspend the reality of the illness that is slowly taking over her. It is a beautiful performance and one that will stay with us for a long long time.
Everything I Own - Ken Boothe
Danny James King has crafted a beautifully dense narrative filled with what it means to love and lose, what our claimed identity means to us, what letting go truly means and ultimately what it means to be there for your loved ones in the moment before they're gone. It's witty, charming, heartbreaking and very veryyy Caribbean, specifically Jamaican (there's a joke involving the phrase "Bun up" that if you're Caribbean is guaranteed to have you in stitches) It is a wonderful debut and a sure sign that Danny is definitely going places!
Ken Boothe's Everything I Own is a perfect counterpart for this story. His warm tone, complimented by a bouncing guitar and drum beat, feel like a hug from a family member you haven't seen in ages. But once you're in their embrace... you know you're home once again. And even though your time with them on this earth is limited, and just like Ken you'd give up everything to have them back again, the feel of that hug remains. And in that... they'll always be with you. No matter what.
Honourable mentions
Happier then Ever - Billie Eilish
Never The Right Time - Janine
Sweat A Go Buss - Maxi Priest
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