What does it mean to be a success?

TOOT’s show Ten Out of Ten is a surprising, warm and accessible gem of a piece that makes us question the nature of achievement.

As the audience is ushered into the space, name-badged and sat in rows, the lights are up and there is nowhere to hide. Initially we are welcomed to the course it seems we have signed up for. Stuart Barter, Clare Dunn and Terry O’ Donovan lead the audience through a series of simple tests and questions, memory games, and acts of chair manipulation, all backed by a live 80s electronica score (played and composed by Barter).

The three performers are playful and generous as they introduce us to case-study Jennifer, whose life is the focus of the show, and who is played by both Clare Dunn and Terry O’Donovan. As we follow the character of Jennifer from school to work to marriage, job uncertainty and beyond, we are invited to hold her choices up against our own – are we with the right partner? What’s the worth of an evening class anyway?

Terry O’Donovan is particularly joyful in a hilarious sequence involving a go-karting competition, and Clare Dunn brings a beautiful vulnerability to counter Stuart Barter’s high-status and rather ruthless course leader. Aside from their strength as performers, the great skill of the company is their ability to transform a fairly non-descript space so simply and effectively, transporting us from classroom to dance hall, from waiting room to church.

Whilst the work charts everyday achievements – brownie badges, swimming medals, driving tests – there are more weighty matters threaded through the narrative with a deft touch: the reoccurring theme of the decision whether or not to have children, which hung more heavily in the room, adding an underlying disquiet which has stuck with me since.

I was delighted by the audience’s willingness to play ball – a testament to TOOT’s ability to make people feel comfortable, and a pointer to the fact that if you put adults in a classroom situation their old school habits return in the blink of an eye. The day I was there one chap cast himself as teacher’s pet and class tell-tale without any prompting. The piece points to the competition inherent in our education system and the way this remains so hard to shake off as we get older (made all the more pertinent by its context in the Fringe Festival where 3000 shows shout ‘pick me! I’m a success! See how many stars I have!’).

The tag line for the show is ‘a new theatrical experience for everyone’, and I really felt this was true – the three performers were skilled at bringing the whole audience with them, and I never felt uncomfortable or self-conscious which is a feat for a show which ends with everybody line-dancing.

So then, a splendidly crafted hour that leaves us questioning what are we achieving for? What makes a life well-lived?