GOOD GRIEF

Enter stage left Good Grief, a play exploring loss and the memories left behind. Physical comedy company Ugly Bucket turned a commemoration of their comedy lecturer and long time supporter Tim Miles, into a full length sprint along the gamut of grief related emotions.

It’s well researched. The cast visited death doulas – the death equivalent of a midwife - and the soundtrack features real voices, including Tim’s. There’s been a film version during COVID, and tours include death cafes.

“Tim wanted people to ‘find the funny’ in his passing”, said performer Jess Huckerby. In grief you do find yourself in fits of hysterics, if you can make someone laugh, find the light in what we all go through, in emotions we repress or don’t want to burden people with, then people start to feel it’s ok to grieve. We have a breakout space and an open accessibility policy where people can feel free to leave and come back whenever they need.” uglybuckettheatre.co.uk

Memories are stirred and tears jerked, but it’s an awesomely clever production with an abundance of laugh out loud moments. Good Grief is designed to open the conversations no one wants to have – that’s why the most poignant part for me was when the lights went on, and there in the second to front row, a young man and his elderly grandad were in deep discussion, each in their own place of grief but open to the other’s.

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@UglyBucket

@uglybuckettheatre

Review: Jackie Rankin