Fresh from an award-winning, sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe 2017, Dust by Milly Thomas (Clique, BBC3; Clickbait and A First World Problem, Theatre503), directed by Sara Joyce, now transfers to London’s Soho Theatre. Dust is a refreshing, caustic and comedic treatment of one woman’s depression, suicide and everything that happens afterwards.
A woman. A suicide. A choice. A fly on the wall. A funeral. A Bakewell tart. A life. A lie. A truth. An ending. Of sorts. Alice thinks that life isn’t worth living. So she kills herself. Sort of. She is stuck, a fly on the wall. Forced to watch the aftermath of her suicide and its ripple effect on her family and friends, Alice quickly learns that death changes people. And that death is not the change she hoped for.
Milly Thomas comments, I’m beyond excited to bring Dust to a London audience. For the show to come to Soho Theatre after the support and nurturing they have given me from the very start of my career feels like a dream come true. So much of my very favourite work have grown from this venue and I’m hugely excited for this next chapter in Dust’s afterlife.
Written using Thomas’ own experience of depression and her desire to talk more about suicide and mental health in society today, Dust is very much about life, about those who remain behind and how squeamish we are around death. How do you quantify a life? What if you lived as an arsehole but suddenly, in death, you’re a saint? And, if push came to shove, would your mother get your funeral right?
Written and performed with dynamism by Thomas herself, there's a candour about Dust that looks the audience in the eye and dares it to either pass judgement or else be sympathetic. Alice wouldn't be satisfied with either, one suspects, in a show where sex is a matter of life, death and much more besides (The Herald).
Thomas was awarded a Stage Edinburgh Award for her performance in Dust in Edinburgh 2017.