Beginnings are always difficult. Believe the Worst started with three sleeping bodies on the stage – a good few minutes, broken only by the shake and shuffle of one of the character's heads. Then, after a well-timed pause for expectation, she rolled over and went back to sleep, triggering laughter and cheers from a packed full house.
This was the start of really present physical theatre, slowly paced and controlled, but rolling out as easily and as smoothly as the characters eventually rolled to their feet in the first sequence. From then on, each actor had huge presence, so that you always knew you could look from one to the other and see something interesting. You've got to see this for the pencil-sharpening sequence, believe me. It was witty as well, with a great soundtrack.
The monotony of the office worker, choreographed and set against a huge backdrop of filing cabinets, was captured in the strident outbursts of hate and love, rants about team working, confessional relationships, and the futility of talking at your desk. The audience kept on catching little references, or looks, here and there from the actors' movements and faces, and sniggering. This is for anyone who's experienced the bewildering corporate world of any large organisation where no-one knows individually what they're here for let alone collectively.