Bite Radius play review in Berwick: What memories would you erase?

Through the lens of a future that feels all too possible, it dissects the raw depths of grief and delicate trails of hope, serving them with lashings of dark humour, acerbic dialogue and human contradictions.

In a world where technology suggests our menu choices, tells us what time to go to bed, when to exercise and even redefines our interpretations of the world, how far are we from inviting it to control what we remember and forget?

‘Bite Radius’ explores this premise through the unravelling of a throuple whose shared and individual relationships nosedive after their son, Elliot, disappears. Grief impacts each in tangential ways and, even as they untether, their lives remain edgily intertwined.

Through the eyes of Elliot’s mother, Alice, the audience relives what took her – and Elliot’s stepfather Innes and father Noah – to Excision-U, a time-limited cloud storage repository where people can offload debilitating memories.

Alice revisits Excision-U one last time to relive her excised memories of Elliot’s disappearance and the intervening years. Her stored recollections unfold, alongside those of Innes and Noah, in all the kaleidoscopic chaos, ridiculousness, pain and laughter of real life.

But will Alice choose to permanently delete these memories, or to reintegrate them into her consciousness and carry them with her? And are the memories even reliable?

Memory is a slippery beast at the best of times, factor in the anomalies of AI and technological glitches at Excision-U and the audience witnesses how true, false and imagined memories become knotted together and reinvented.

The show embraces multimedia – particularly film – and seamlessly integrates it with live action and music: from nightmarish visions of disappeared Elliot to rosy memories of his childhood.

Flynn’s writing, with its sharp cuts and juxtapositions, is intrinsically cinematic and in ‘Bite Radius’, he has created the perfect vessel for his unique world vison.

The ‘Bite Radius’ cast is superb. Bea Kerr as Alice aches with the raw, brutal confusion of loss as she bickers and nitpicks at Innes’ grief-denial and envelops hollowed out Noah in empathy.

David Simpson’s transformation from inspirational English teacher to a shell washing away on life’s tide is painful and beautiful to watch.

As Innes, Gary Robson conveys a cerebral denial of grief whilst simultaneously opening a window into the stasis of emotional suppression – his circular bickering scenes with Alice are a joy to watch.

Anna Teresa’s off-stage performance as Excision-U’s Rep is a masterclass in voice acting – her spot-on comic timing brought relief in all the right moments.

As disappeared Elliot, Jamie McKintosh manages a tough gig with aplomb – even producing a full-faced (genuine) yawn in one exchange with his stepfather.

A compelling night’s theatre, enhanced by the fabulous The Straw Yard venue in Berwick which, with Jen Wood’s stage dressing, became the mind we were invited to step into.

If you missed ‘Bite Radius’ on its recent tour, look out for its next outing.