Anyone expecting a clear-cut, weepy number about innocence and injustice may be surprised by Death Song. The piece does show a man on death row, whose final conversations are interspersed with a steamy back-story. However, his aggression and abuse surface gradually. By the time he seems technically and morally guilty, you have been sucked too far into the story for summary judgements.
You need me, the company, have the physical confidence to clamber through the audience and stage scenes within it. Moments of mime, freeze frames, obtrusive sound effects and live music combine. Some of these effects seem a bit rough round the edges (perhaps deliberately so), but at their best they send a shiver down the spine as you feel fate intervene.
The moral of the story is that expecting life to treat you well because you are a nice person is like expecting a bull not to maul you because you are vegetarian. ‘The bull doesn’t give a shit,’ we are told. Cue the story of a Mexican immigrant, Juan (Heriberto Montalban), his fifteen-year-old daughter Paulina (Miren Alcala) and his new girlfriend (Fran Moulds).
A talented cast of Puerto Rican, Basque, Catalan and English actors helps give authenticity, and the characters are well developed and acted. The material is ambitious but sustained, although perhaps the ending is a bit abrupt. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what could move this from a very good to a breathtaking performance, but Death Song remains promising and assured.