With inspiration from Six Characters in Search of an Author and medieval morality play Everyman, Jo Clifford’s latest play explores the idea of reality when a family are faced with a tragic loss. In a time where the nature of what is real is increasingly elusive, and death seems to be smeared across our stages and at the front of the country’s collective conscious, it seems apt that in a rare bid to put on new writing, the Lyceum have chosen Clifford’s deeply personal tale Every One.

The audience will feel very at home when the actor punches through the proscenium arch

Playing out very much in monologue, the show centres around a family who are somehow aware that they are being watched by people in a theatre, feeling mundane and unsure of the attention they are soon put in their place when Death arrives.

“It’s a kind of mix of monologues and duets, the reason I thought it’d work on the Lyceum stage is that when someone like Liam Brennan (playing Man) takes a soliloquy from Hamlet or Macbeth, it’s very powerful and our stage is designed for that” says director/Artistic Director Mark Thomson; “The audience will feel very at home when the actor punches through the proscenium arch and gets right in amongst them.” Tackling new writing can be a challenge especially when for the writer it is a very personal tale, but for Thomson, Clifford is a great companion in the studio: “Jo’s in rehearsals a lot, when something isn’t working we try and differentiate whether it’s the actors, or the writing, so we’re all round it trying to sort it with no egos. Jo is one of the most generous people in the room, she’s the kind of writer who doesn’t make you feel pressured to do things a certain way”

What’s remarkable about Jo’s piece is its generosity, its desire to share, challenge and surprise

With death and loss, whether of a loved one or a sense of self, so much at the centre of this piece, it seems like the place to discuss our continued penchant for self-analysis in the West which certainly edges on solipsism in the arts and endless mock-therapy sessions unfolding on the stage; “I think in some ways, any act of theatre is an act of therapy, whether you come out laughing or crying. I think the key thing is, as with any personal experience with anyone, if it becomes indulgent and inward looking and self-regarding then there’s no sharing to be had. What’s remarkable about Jo’s piece is its generosity, its desire to share, challenge and surprise.” Motivated by the “disorientation and other-worldliness” of it, Thomson concludes saying Every One “invites you to question your own morality and your own value of living.”

Another bold and evocative choice for this season at the Lyceum, with First Look Friday (sponsored by The List) already sold out, you better get booking!

Showing @Lyceum 19 March – 10 April 19:45