Death is sad enough, but growing up seems worse. At least that’s a message that could easily be taken from A Eulogy for Roman. An incredibly poetic performance, we get to know Milo (Brendan George) and Roman really well over the course of this one man show.
Transcends the limits of the stage
It’s in the style of a eulogy (as the name suggests), but there are moments where a stream of consciousness overtakes prepared remarks. We can see genuine joy when George talks about specific memories with Roman, and our proximity to him means that we are incredibly influenced by his emotions over the course of the show. We help George through the acceptance part of grief, which, as we see, is the most difficult part of the grieving process by completing the challenges on his and Roman’s Life Points List (plus, plus, plus). And it is genuinely a lot of fun and wholesome, and George is entirely respectful of the audience’s comfort level, but still manages to bring together even the most reluctant of us.
What George creates is inspiring, and A Eulogy for Roman is just that. It's a moment of hope. This show is full of heart, and that is entirely down to George. He is phenomenal to watch, balancing and reacting to both the story and to us. This is a beautiful piece of writing, that is made so much more by George himself, not only as an actor but as a person. We can see that he is reaching out with his whole heart to us, and the show grows and stays with us beyond his performance because of it.
It is about growing up, in a sort of desperate way, where the realisation that it’s happened has come too late. This show is incredibly bittersweet; it mixes the happiness of life and being alive with a sense of loss because it recognises the more yon live, the more you are likely to. In this way A Eulogy for Roman transcends the limits of the stage.
