“As Alice, Ella McKeown is utterly believable. As the sorrow pours out of her, you want to leap out of your seat, bring her a hot chocolate – one with those little pink and white marshmallows – and tell her it’s all going to be OK.”
Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)
Life is short. The space between our first entrance and our final exit is horribly, unforgivably short. ‘The Same Rain That Falls On Me’ is Alice’s story of coming home from uni on the hottest day of the year to be present at her father’s death. Through the traffic, the climate change disruption, the stifling train, the stiff matriarch, the expecting brother and sister-in-law, and the very young niece oblivious to the slow-moving trauma engulfing an ordinary family.
Logan Jones’ monologue – first written for the York Theatre Royal’s Takeover Festival in 2019 – is a beat-by-beat chronicle of the end of life in the context of everything else carrying on as usual. The drama is subtle and understated. The staging is minimal, just a chair. The lighting changes are small enough to make you wonder if they are being made at all. Yet the overall effect is like being hit by a wave of raw, dramatic energy. Equal parts invigorating and enervating. As safeguarding professionals are forever saying – it’s the impact, not the incident.
As Alice, Ella McKeown is utterly believable. As the sorrow pours out of her, you want to leap out of your seat, bring her a hot chocolate – one with those little pink and white marshmallows – and tell her it’s all going to be OK. It’s an astonishing performance. Every stitch of canvas aligned perfectly to capture the domestic sturm und drang.
The most experienced and clued-up punters at any Fringe festival – and there are plenty in the audience today – will always check in with the venue staff for the inside tips as to what’s hot and what’s hotter. The consensus is in. Ricochet Theatre are THE company to watch.
Reviewer: Dan Lentell
Get Your Coats On 
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