Two friends embark upon a road trip through France, their surreal journey accompanied by an over-zealous and unconventional Sat Nav commentary, voiced by the marvellously monotonous Cassie Werber, who also directs ChoppedLogics By The Way.
This delightful and understated show, performed by the charismatic Stavros Demetraki and versatile Kevin OLoughlin, has a fascination with death and the pair encounter it frequently throughout their tour de France. The show just about escapes morbidity thanks to the wit of Renaudes script and the warm tenderness of Werbers actors.
Both friends have lost their mothers, one quite recently and the other when he was a child. Along the way they meet a colourful array of characters; an eccentric and slightly sinister hotelier, a baroness who tries to sell them her daughters services, a pair of motorcycling and overly affectionate lovers and a little boy on his way to stay with his mothers brother. All of these have one thing in common that they have each recently lost a mother, father, husband or wife. Either that, or they are about to do so.
Our intrepid explorers question where the various bodies of each of these mothers and fathers and husbands and wives are laid to rest, and also where their souls or spirits (or other ethereal presence) must end up. Are they just chatting in the clouds or watching over us without us knowing?
Its an intelligent script, but one that perhaps gets slightly caught up with the secondary characters, the ones that the two friends meet along their way. I would have preferred to see and hear more about the friendship of our two road trippers and the losses they have experienced. As it stands, their journey feels just a touch incomplete.