Goodbye Mr Coffee, Courtyard Theatre, Camden Fringe, stage review: ‘Delicately-written drama’
Brian Voakes stars in his debut production. Photograph: courtesy Nancy Harrison
The Camden Fringe festival is now in full swing, and on the fringe of the Fringe, Hackney gets the occasional show in this month-long smorgasbord of drama, comedy, music and more.
Goodbye Mr Coffee is a moving one-man show by De Beauvoir resident Brian Voakes.
Starting with an upbeat take on retirement, the hour-long performance plumbs the emotional depths of infirmity to demonstrate how even in our darkest hour, we can find unexpected hope.
The play is deeply autobiographical, and Voakes’s own story is one of renewal.
Following a successful career in book publishing, the Californian native trained as an actor and playwright.
Goodbye Mr Coffee is his first dramatic production, written initially as part of his MA and subsequently developed for the Fringe.
The play revolves around the budding friendship between Robert and his fellow hospital patient Harvey.
Although Harvey is by far the more willing to accept his mortality, he is also a great believer in new beginnings.
We watch as Robert suffers through his own infirmity and emerges a different man.
The delicately-written drama is at once reflective and humorous and will be enjoyed by people of all ages.
Goodbye Mr Coffee runs until 3 August at the Courtyard Theatre, Bowling Green Walk, 40 Pitfield Street, N1 6EU.