Review: JOY, VAULT Festival

"What is joy?"

You enter the Cavern's space underneath an inflatable rainbow, with the performers greeting you with smiles and asking how you are. Some performers are hitting large balloons to each other across the space while others hand audience members pieces of paper, asking them to write down an embarrassing story to be put in a box. Don't worry, the embarrassing stories will play a part later, but all involvement is completely optional.

The show has been put on by the VAULT Young Company, "a brand new initiative from VAULT Creative Arts which aims to create a year round ensemble of theatre artists of the future." Throughout the year, members of the company will "create vibrant work inspired by big ideas" while being assisted in nurturing their voices. The group works with theatre professionals to create a production that will be put on at the VAULT Festival.

The main story of Joy is told from the perspective of two young hosts (podcasters? Streamers? YouTubers? Unclear) who are discussing a story they heard and wanted to share with the world. The two performers playing the host stand out as fantastic comic actors, perfectly encapsulating the childish style of speaking that many young hosts have when starting out.

The story revolves around three friends who are going on an adventure to discover a place where no one has ever lost "it" - more on that later. The three friends are played by each of the different performers, creating new dynamics with each switch while still keeping the core personalities of the characters. At times this story-within-a-story became quite confusing, especially when the performers would speak quickly, making it difficult to follow what they were saying.

The highlight of Joy is its truly stunning monologues that take place in between the scenes depicting the adventures of the three friends. Each monologue reflects on the concept of joy, with some discussing what joy means to them and others giving examples of what brings them joy. One spoke of a woman named Joy and her songs, another brought up the concept of past lives, a football fan told a sobering tale about racism, and someone told an incredibly relatable and heartwarming story about the social cause of "More Dogs On the Tube." One of my favourites was a dramatic retelling of an incident where an 8-year-old's lunchbox opens and her strawberries spill out into her backpack. Each monologue is either hilarious, sobering, or a strange yet powerful mix of the two.

Throughout the show, there is an air of mystery, particularly around the idea of losing "it." Whenever "it" is spoken about, a loud censoring beep would play, leaving audience members wondering what they were talking about. At times I felt myself pulled out of the show trying to figure out what they were talking about. Was it a reference to someone losing their virginity? Losing their sanity? Losing joy? I'm still not sure.

Unfortunately, the acoustics of the Cavern are not the best, and while microphones were used throughout the show, the sound on them was low and the music tended to drown out the performer's voices. There were some beautiful monologues that I had trouble understanding, which took a bit away from the experience.

Ultimately, Joy certainly fulfills the promise of the VAULT Young Company to bring new ideas to the stage and nurture a group of future members of the theatre industry. The group is clearly passionate about their work and each performer gives powerful and joyful performances. While the show itself may not be the strongest, it is certainly a fantastic start for all involved.

Joy runs until 26 January with performances at 6:40 PM at the Cavern in the VAULT Festival Venue.

Photo Credit: VAULT Festival

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