The first thing to note – and maybe the last – is that This is an anagram of shit. The mud the characters wallow in is a big stinking metaphor: basically, we’re up to our necks in shit. This might be an interesting place to begin a conversation, but as an overarching artistic concept – well, it’s a bit like a sick poo: thin and runny.
David Woods is the director and “lead artist”, which means whatever we feel about This we can blame directly on him. He has an excellent pedigree as the co-founder of Ridiculusmus and regular collaborator with Back to Back Theatre. And This had a brief, albeit aborted, run as an immersive art installation at the Newport Substation in 2021, before being rewritten and remounted here at the Old Richmond Power Station. All of which is to say, we should expect great things from the work.
