Wasted – no money, no phone, no keys, no friend, no memory, and maybe no way of knowing what happened (Bruiser Theatre, touring)

While quite a number of recent theatre productions have covered with the issue of consent, few scripts deal with it as deftly as Kat Woods’ Wasted.

Emma and Kate were out on the town when they met brothers Oli and Charlie. A lot of craic was had and much alcohol was consumed. The group got split up. With no money, no phone, no keys, and no best friend, Emma went back home with Oli, a guardian angel helping a damsel in distress. The next morning she’s not certain what all happened, but she’s pretty certain her body’s telling her that something happened, and that a morning after pill would be a necessary precaution.

Having established the hazy events of a night out, Wasted jumps back and forth with a very modern yet accessible non-linear approach that sees Kate confronting Emma with the likelihood that she was raped, while Oli tries to mould his grasp of consent being a feeling to the cold light of day truth of his actions.

Sharon Duffy plays Emma, a young woman who is somewhat happy-go-lucky, realistic about her overcapacity to consume, and doesn’t see herself as a victim. Warren McCook plays the Oli, who isn’t an out and out predator, but is scared that he won’t be able to escape the long-term consequences of his actions. Together, they are incredible.

Two chairs and a table are rearranged to establish the different locations. The actors’ movements are frenetic. Their lines whizz past like bullets as they jump in and out of various supporting characters. Bruiser’s famed physical theatre techniques see the pair rewinding and fast forwarding through the night out and the morning after, at one point creating a night club strobe effect without needing lights to flash. Some scenes repeat with new details coming to light. Watch out for the roller disco moves without needing wheels!

The pace is full on, requiring stacks of kinetic energy and commitment from the word go. There’s no room for error, either on stage or behind the scenes with the stage manager who has to be totally in sync with the actors to create the effects. It’s hard to imagine the level of drilling required to get the choreography so exact: at times, it feels like a frantic synchronised dance with added words. Garth McConaghie’s soundscape mixes sweeping musical themes with distressed sound effects to enhance the emotional turmoil. Eoin Robinson’s letterbox video adds subtle reminders about phone callers and police interviews.

Driving back from the Newtownabbey Theatre At The Mill venue I passed close to The American Bar where I first saw Pintsized Production’s version of Wasted back in 2018. Nuala Donnelly was the director, and she is assistant director beside director Lisa May on this Bruiser production. The 2024 set’s footprint is nearly larger than the upstairs of the original pub! Yet the claustrophobic feeling of heads turning and lives spinning out of control is retained.

This afternoon, the PSNI have been tweeting out messages aimed at students heading off to college. One deals with FRIES: consent should be Freely given, Reversible, Informed, Enthusiastic, and Specific. Wasted powerfully portrays a young woman and a young man who at first don’t comprehend (as the play explains) that someone’s “capacity to consent may evaporate before a complainant becomes unconscious”. But within 24 hours, they both learn a lot about themselves and each other.

Wasted is a sweaty and sweary examination of consensual sex within the context of a one-night stand and binge drinking culture. It’s a vital and breathtaking piece of theatre, that years later still feels painfully relevant in a place where instances of assault are still excused by laddish behaviour and society at large struggles to see respect and consent as priorities in every situation.

Bruiser are touring Wasted through theatres in Downpatrick (Friday 6 September), Omagh (Thursday 19), Armagh (Saturday 21) and Belfast’s The MAC (Wednesday 25 to Sunday 29). Importantly, they are also taking the production into schools and colleges, to prompt conversations about the issues the show raises before people are harmed and the criminal justice system has to comes into play.

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