The show’s premise is deceptively simple.
Gridlock is a play about a couple at a crossroads. Alexa and Thomas are stuck in traffic – both literally and figuratively – and as they wait for the traffic to finally start moving, their conversation begins to take them backwards.
They revisit the moments that shaped their relationship and gradually confront two rather important questions: how did we get here, and where exactly are we going?
I’ll admit, I was a little worried about seeing this production.
A couple sitting in traffic?
Would it be boring? Would I end up feeling like I was stuck in the traffic with them, desperately waiting for the lights to change so I could escape?
Thankfully, those concerns disappeared fairly quickly.
The two-person cast are excellent actors and both portray their characters extremely well. More importantly, they understand the emotional beats of the script. When the mood needs to change, it does so naturally, and the relationship between Alexa and Thomas feels believable.
And luckily, the entire production doesn’t simply involve watching two people sitting in a car.
That would have been a brave theatrical choice.
As the couple revisit their relationship, the production takes us into the memories and moments that brought them to where they are now. This allows Gridlock to become much more than its initial setup might suggest.
The traffic jam is really the device that forces these two people to stop.
When you’re constantly moving through life, it’s remarkably easy to avoid difficult conversations. Here, they physically can’t go anywhere, and that gives them nowhere to hide from each other either.
The script is well written, with strong dialogue between the characters, and despite my initial concerns that the premise might become a little flat, it kept me engaged throughout.
There are moments of humour too, alongside the more serious and emotional elements of their relationship. That mixture is important because it stops the production becoming too heavy and also makes Alexa and Thomas feel more like a real couple rather than two characters who have been placed on stage purely to deliver dramatic dialogue.
The direction is also strong.
The pace works well and the production doesn’t feel as though it’s being unnecessarily stretched. Lighting is used to good effect, helping establish different moments and allowing what is essentially quite a contained story to have more theatrical movement.
However, I did have one significant issue with the production when I attended, and that was the sightlines.
Now, I know.
This is the Edinburgh Fringe.
Smaller venues have to perform a difficult balancing act between getting enough audience members into a space and ensuring everybody has a good view of what’s happening on stage. Sometimes you’re working with a room that simply wasn’t designed with perfect theatrical sightlines in mind.
But the seating configuration did affect my experience of Gridlock.
I didn’t have a choice over where I sat, as the audience was being directed to fill the seating from the front, and from my position I couldn’t see all of the action clearly.
The action felt too low in relation to the performance area and the people sitting in front of me.
At one point, the audience suddenly laughed.
I hadn’t got a clue why.
I eventually adjusted my neck and position enough to discover that Alexa was giving a wonderfully deathly stare.
Ah.
Now the laughter made sense.
It’s actually a good example of why sightlines matter so much. A facial expression can be part of the punchline. If you can hear everyone else laughing but can’t see what they’re laughing at, you’ve temporarily been removed from the production.
If it were physically possible within the venue, some form of raised or raked seating would make a considerable difference. Even relatively small changes in height could potentially allow more of the audience to see the performers properly.
And that’s a shame, because what I could see was very good.
It is also important to separate that criticism from the production itself.
I wouldn’t want a venue issue to detract too heavily from two very good performances.
Gridlock ultimately takes a premise that could easily have become static – two people stuck in traffic – and turns it into an engaging examination of a relationship that has reached its own traffic jam.
The writing gives the performers plenty to work with, the direction keeps things moving and both actors deliver convincing and emotionally grounded performances.
So no, I wasn’t sitting there waiting desperately for Gridlock to end so I could escape.
Quite the opposite.
I became interested in these two people and wanted to discover how they had arrived at this point in their relationship – and whether there was a road forward for them.
Overall, Gridlock is a well-written and well-performed production which overcame my initial reservations about its premise. Improve those sightlines and the audience experience becomes considerably stronger.
★★★★ 4 Stars
Smartly written, emotionally engaging and superbly performed
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/gridlock
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