Sian De Bergerac review: A bold and thought-provoking exploration of grief and human connection
©kirstenmcternan
There is something particularly interesting about theatre that takes a subject we think we understand and places it somewhere completely unexpected. Sian De Bergerac, the latest production from Red Oak Theatre, does exactly that.
Written by Welsh playwright Emma Cooney, the play follows Sian in the aftermath of her father’s death. Lost and struggling to find her place in a world that suddenly feels unfamiliar, she finds an unlikely way forward when she answers an advert for a job writing messages for men on dating apps.
It is a strange premise, and deliberately so.
Sian becomes a professional catfish, creating romantic connections on behalf of wealthy men while remaining detached from the relationships she is helping to build. What begins as an unusual job soon becomes something far more complicated, as the boundaries between the life she is writing for other people and her own identity begin to blur.
At its heart, though, Sian De Bergerac isn't really about dating apps. It is about what happens when we are desperate for connection, particularly when grief leaves us feeling disconnected from ourselves and the people around us.
That is where the production really finds its strength.
“A strange premise becomes a deeply human story.”
There is a quiet sadness running through Sian's story, but the play never allows grief to become predictable. Instead, humour and absurdity sit alongside some genuinely uncomfortable moments. The result is a piece that can be funny one minute and deeply affecting the next.
The central idea of professional catfishing also gives Cooney plenty of room to explore questions around identity and power. Sian is essentially constructing intimacy for strangers, writing the words that other people struggle to say themselves. Yet while she becomes increasingly skilled at creating emotional connections for other people, her own ability to connect begins to deteriorate.
That contrast gives the play much of its emotional weight.
Red Oak Theatre has created a production that feels ambitious in its approach. Rather than simply using the set as a backdrop, the AV design becomes part of the storytelling. The bedroom at the centre of Sian's world collides with the digital environment of dating apps, with projection and video constantly shifting the space around her.
It creates an appropriately unsettled feeling. Sian is never entirely able to escape the digital world she has entered, and the production design reflects that sense of being watched, connected and increasingly overwhelmed.
The use of AV is particularly effective because it doesn't feel like technology has been added simply to make the production look contemporary. It has a purpose within the story. The digital world becomes another character in Sian's life, shaping how she communicates and how she sees herself.
©kirstenmcternan
The creative captioning is also incorporated directly into the visual design rather than feeling separate from the performance. It becomes another part of the production's language, reinforcing Red Oak Theatre's commitment to making accessibility part of the artistic experience.
What impressed me most about Sian De Bergerac, however, was its willingness to sit with difficult questions rather than neatly answering them.
How much of ourselves do we change to keep other people happy? When does caring for somebody become controlling them? How much are we willing to compromise when being alone feels unbearable?
These questions linger after the curtain falls.
There is also something refreshing about seeing a new Welsh theatre company taking a piece like this and giving it such a distinctive visual identity. Red Oak Theatre is a company I will certainly be interested in following after seeing Sian De Bergerac. This feels like a production made with a clear sense of what it wants contemporary theatre to look and feel like.
It is bold without losing sight of the human story at its centre.
Sian De Bergerac ultimately left me thinking less about the mechanics of online dating and more about something much older and much harder to solve: our need to feel connected to somebody else.
For a play about a woman who spends her days writing romantic messages for strangers, that feels like exactly the right question to leave its audience with.
Sian De Bergerac is a thought-provoking new production from Red Oak Theatre that combines an unconventional premise with a deeply human story about grief, identity and the complicated ways we search for connection. It left me curious and excited about what Red Oak Theatre will do next.
