Twice Total Theatre Award-nominees You Need Me tackle heavy subject matter and live up to their reputation for creating evocative physical theatre in this highly-charged drama, with stellar performances from a talented multi-national cast.Death Song turns on its head the moving tale of a Mexican inmate on death row. His alleged crime is not stated, and the action, somewhat confusingly, alternates between conversations with a do-gooder English schoolteacher who is working on his appeal case, and scenes from the downward spiral of his personal life. His already-strained relationship with his submissive, silent daughter, whom he protects with a fierce obsession, bubbles over when younger girlfriend and older boyfriend enter the picture.The claustrophobic Udderbelly Pasture provides a ripe environment for the blistering heat and intensity of the Mexican family’s stifled illegal existence in a trailer park in 1980’s Nevada, and the confines of a prison visiting room. The ensemble use the whole of the space, even clambering through the stalls at one point, enclosing the audience to create an awkwardness and cabin fever that goes beyond the emotional to allow a genuine physical association with the narrative.Events delivered in a non-chronological order beckon us toward a conclusion that is blown apart by a twist in the tale. The abrupt ending punctuates the layered patchwork narrative with a resounding shock, leaving us to reflect on a situation that was always a recipe for disaster.Live musical accompaniment from Greg Hall heightens the drama, and lighting and sound effects created onstage by the cast bring a cinematic reality to this thought provoking performance.
