“Grant Meets Death” by Säm Mörris
Nottingham New Theatre.

Another new piece of theatre from the Nottingham New Theatre, this time written by Sam Säm Mörris.

One night Grant McKenzie wakes up and finds Death standing over his bed, wanting to take Grant’s life. Now obviously Grant isn’t too keen on this idea ,and Death is desperate for a lunch break, so he is no rush either. he has a watch that will stop time for 90 minutes and gives Grant these 90 minutes. The story takes us back over Grant’s life to determine if he should live or die through his memories and actions over the years.

One thing we learn is that "Death" himself is really only the delivery man because he is just responsible for transporting the chosen one from the one place to the next. No matter how much we try to stop the circle of life (and death), it will happen!

This may sound pretty grim but I'll tell you what, this is one of the best new pieces of writing I have seen this year. It has everything in there - laughs, emotion, sadness, music, dance, the Turtles, Fleetwood Mac - both play an integral part in the story - life, death, love, hate, physical theatre, mime, it's all in there. There's even a touch of magic.

Sam's writing belies his years with a lovely air of solemnity in places and throughout a delicious amount of black comedy.The script is a very clever one and because of the 140 wonderful minutes of theatre, I can only imagine the physical script took a long time to produce. Apparently, the idea for the story came from listening to a Johnny Cash song.

Ethan McCrystal (Grant) is wonderful as the 53 year old who faces death in the face. Ethan shows his comic side off and nearer the end also his more serious acting side as the inevitable dawns on him; his time is up! The play is a very physical one and Ethan is on the receiving end of a lot of that physical side. His scene as he is with his wife as she dies is quite simply beautiful as well as immensely sad.

Miguel Barrulas (Death) plays a blinder, and possibly the best performance I have seen him give. Very droll and relaxed performance. Great make up as well. From his "matter of fact" approach as Death to a more empathetic ending via some wonderful comedy lines, Miguel mastered this part, and I hope that when Death comes to greet me, I hope that he is like this portrayal. It'll make going such fun.

Flo Avis plays Lucy and Hugo Minta plays Marcus. Both wonderful character actors. Flo making her NNT debut in this role, and very confident she is as well. I've seen Hugo before and this part compounds what a talented and comic actor he is.

Boo Jackson plays Eleanor, and like all of the above (and below) an excellent character player with a great range of emotions to show.

Arthur Mckechnie and Eloise Dooley play Multi-roles throughout, fleshing out the character list. Talking of flesh, we see another side of Arthur in a fetching green evening gown and heels among his roles.

The choreography is used to good effect ranging from ball room to contemporary, both working well with the slow motion sections of the play.

There is another very novel section of the play which involves a game show with Death as the host.

Co Directors Säm Mörris and Lillian Race have done an amazing job on this multi-pace piece of theatre that never falls into a lull at any stage of the show. Your attention is demanded at every second of this play.

Francis Simmons is the hard worked Producer for this play, which I could see as a film if anyone were to be brave enough to take on the story.

The technical side of this show is superb with the graphics - Technical Director is Martin Tomlinson. the video design is by Zoe Smith

The excellent lighting is designed by Andrew Houghton, assisted by Zoe Smith and the equally excellent Sound Design is by Tara Prasad. The mix of the ticking clock to The Turtles song "Happy Together" is an inspired choice as we never know how long happiness with loved ones will last - only time will tell.

If you love new writing which is clever and intelligent coupled with an incredible bunch of talented actors with the ability to bring a character to life, a great set which was not as simple as it first appeared, and a whole host of technical wizards, then this is the play for you,

Not only will it have you laughing out loud, but it will also get you thinking as well, and possibly make you question many things about yourself and your life. It may even get you to rethink your life to live every minute as you never know when you may be waking up and staring death in the face!

“Grant Meets Death” is at the Nottingham New Theatre until Saturday 8 December 2018.