Kieran is in a rut. Surrounded by friends who’ve moved on to become ‘real adults’, he clings desperately to his youth, haunted by a past tragedy and wallowing in an extended, dreary adolescence.

On a drunken walk home from an embarrassingly misjudged club night, Kieran encounters Olive, a verdant vision of a VW camper van containing the quiet but immediately inviting Paul, a zen figure on a mysterious mission, armed with a camera and a bunch of postcards, on a journey to face his own troubled past in his own very unique way.

Soaking-wet and with nothing to lose, Kieran hops aboard Olive and the two hit the road for a charming adventure that will define them both.

subtle and brimming with incredible detail 

As the wiry, wide-eyed naïf Kieran, all stuck in a dead end town and yearning for the world beyond, Simon Mole delivers an electrifying, flawless performance, a grandstanding, breathless fusion of spoken word and performance poetry. Alongside him, his silent partner Paul, brought to heartwarming life by Peader Kir who delivers a performance so subtle and brimming with incredible detail that it almost begs you to see the show again just to concentrate on his beautifully nuanced work.

Separated not only by the nature of the performance – narrated in its meaty entirety by Mole – but also physically on stage, Kir works the audio visual production throughout from behind a hot MacBook doubling as an ephemeral camper van dashboard, so the moments the two men come together resonate all the more beautifully for their relative rarity over the course of the show.

Sent reeling out of Live Theatre with smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts, we came crashing back into the real world after experiencing a genuine adventure, a non-stop, tour-de-force performance that created a world so evocative, so stunningly realised that we could feel the sunshine on our backs and the sea spray on our faces as we waved goodbye.

an impeccably executed and life-affirming experience

With little more than a car seat, a camera, two jaunty Hawaiian shirts and a raggedy rug, we were treat to a vision of a grey-skied and glum Britain, enlivened and made numinous through the magic of immeasurable memories, the freedom of now, and the wonderful heartbreak of a life-changing relationship.

A sublime mixture of spoken word, physical performance and live electronic soundscape, No More Worries reinvigorates the genre and is not only an impeccably executed and life-affirming experience, it’s also an excellent in for anyone wanting to take their first steps into the world contemporary theatre.

After all, every journey starts exactly where you are.

Live / Live Theatre / Newcastle upon Tyne / 18 June 2015

Originally published in Narc Magazine