Theatre / Reviews
Review: How Do You Sleep at Night?, The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic – ‘A skilfully played, warm and tender homage to sleep’
Bristol Old Vic’s Young Company eased into 2026 on Wednesday evening with a tender homage to sleep.
The cast of 15 young people have devised work around this theme, creating a kind of montage with relatively little in the way of characterisation or plot. Show like this – idea shows, I call them – live or die along one axis: feeling. Thankfully, How Do You Sleep at Night? succeeds in generating the requisite warmth to make its viewing a pleasure.
Aside from the early contender for show-image of the year, the first element of the show to impress is the set. We enter into an obviously dream-like, off-kilter and slightly Alice in Wonderland bedroom, with wardrobes sprouting off at 45 degree angles and a mattress or two emerging from the back wall. This rubbish Feng Shui and excellent theatre is courtesy of Katie Evans.
To the extent that the show has a plot, it is told through the lens of two sisters, one of whom has slightly outgrown the childish closeness in which the younger remains.
The cast deliver monologues, some humorous, some profound, some from the central bed on stage and some from a microphone in the corner. Anxieties and dreams ranging from the climate crisis to becoming a pop-star help to form the heart of the show.
The show is at its most sophisticated and suggestive when it aims slightly off-target, building around the idea of sleep and colouring a background from which its central ideas emerge in the gaps. These young theatremakers show serious skill in achieving this.
Stan Glendenning’s sound design, which journeys from Mozart’s Lacrimosa to Stevie Wonder, helps to carry the fun and occasional chaos of the show. Paige Stevens has directed these talented young makers in creating a gentle lullaby that will remind you of the stillness in drama, and awaken you to the fullness of sleep.
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How Do You Sleep at Night? is at The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic on April 14-17 at 8pm, with an additional 3pm matinee show on Saturday. Tickets are available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk.
All photos: Lily Watts
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