Review: No One is Listening, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘An oddly moving testament to legacy’

South west theatre legend Vic Llewellyn blurs the lines between fact and fiction in his latest creation, No One is Listening (a ghost story). Narrating as himself while spiralling into a vortex of roles – playing characters who are themselves playing characters embodying monsters and puppet priests – the production is built on a foundation of meta-comedy, fourth wall violations and an earnest devotion to Llewellyn’s late friend, the actor Malcolm Aldcroft (as seen on Casualty).

After recounting a stirring tale of meeting Aldcroft, Llewellyn sets out to tell a story from a book they once bonded over: Haunted Britain, a guide to British supernatural sights. The performance within Vic’s narrative is of Aldcroft’s unfinished script, adapting the famous ghost story Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook by M.R. James.

Llewellyn stages a bold one-man show, marooning a chair against a haunting castle backdrop and drawing the audience in as co-conspirators – at some points witnesses and at others participants. The performance shifts between parody, pastiche, and genuine unease. With each abrupt break in character, an explanation of Aldcroft’s rationale slices through the unsettling tension while reinforcing the absurdity of the piece.

Llewellyn fills the piece with mock, self-deprecating jibes, clearly aware of the parodic nature of the production. From clown-like japes to 80s discos breaks, the confidence of his conviction makes these jokes anything but cringe. He steers an impressive ship, navigating the fine line between the funny and facetious.

The interval arrives at Aldcroft’s posthumous insistence, owing to his conviction that even an hour-long play demands a mid-point drink. These ghostly influences ripple through the piece.

At first, Llewellyn appears to stumble, twice calling for his lines from the technician. What seems like an unusual but effective recover is later revealed as further homage to Aldcroft, who maintained that “a bad actor always haunts his character”.

The persistent layering of meta-humour and homage transforms what might initially feel a slightly eccentric, even amateurish production into a true devotion to both craft and friendship. Llewellyn, quirky, bold, and armed with the bristle and delivery of a man who might better fit within one of these very ghost stories – or, rather, might have stepped straight out of one – more than honours his friend in bringing this piece to life.

Aldcroft’s presence is felt throughout the play, which at its heart, isn’t so much a ghost story, given that there are not many moments of genuine fear. Rather, it is a meditation. A reflection of how artists haunt one another, and how influences linger beyond the grave, echoing in the art of the living.

The result is an odd concoction: part séance, part standup, and part love-letter. An audience expecting a traditional ghost story may leave restless or half-fed, but those receptive to its eccentricities may find something more profound – a consolidation on friendship, memory, and life after death.

No One is Listening (a ghost story) is an oddly moving testament to legacy, companionship and the uncanny world of theatre itself. While we ourselves cannot live on, our ideas just might.

No One is Listening is at Tobacco Factory Theatres on September 29-30 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com. Follow Vic Llewellyn at @vicllewellyn.

All photos: Vic Llewellyn

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