Charlie thought that he had done everything right with his life; he’d found a girl and gotten married, he had a good job, and he thought that everything was going to plan. But when his marriage breaks down, and he’s let go from his job, he is forced to sit back and re-evaluate his life. A simple text ‘Anyone fancy a pint’ in the group chat leads Charlie down a different and unexpected path in ‘Did You Mean To Fall Like That’, a one-man show written by Stephanie Martin, directed by Scott Le Crass and performed by James McGregor.
Oliver is the only person who responds to Charlie’s text, the man person Charlie hadn’t expected to hear from again after one meeting years ago at a stag do. But being too polite to turn him down after he reaches out, Charlie meets up with Oliver and learns more about himself. Having lived with what he thought was the perfect and correct life, everything changing leaves Charlie floundering. He hooks up with an ex-girlfriend who is now a single mother, making him look back at his own struggles with infertility, and she’s actually more into him then the other way around. He tries online dating, but that only leads to meeting up with someone he calls a weirdo.
After each dating disaster, he ends up turning back to Oliver, and the pair grow close. When Oliver invites him over, things get physical, and Charlie begins to both question and to understand his own sexuality and personal growth. Charlie has his ups and downs, having advice about how to handle the situation thrown at him when it is not welcome and at his lowest, he reaches out for help, and it feels refreshing to see this in a male identifying character, this openness to discussing feelings and talking things through.
McGregor does exceptionally well to both play multiple characters, switching at the drop of a hat, and keep the storyline flowing at a nice pace. He is a captivating performer, able to hold the attention of the audience and tell the story to its fullest with nothing more than a stage only big enough to pace a few steps across, a chair and a 3 blanks of wood, the colour of which become increasingly important and poignant as the story goes on.
With these one person shows which involve a lot of different characters, it can get a little confusing to differentiate between them, but this wasn’t an issue here. That being said, with Charlie’s two most mentioned relationships, that of Fran, the ex-girlfriend, and Oliver, one if not both of these being on stage characters may have added a new layer to the story, allowing the audience to see Charlie’s tale clearly from the perspective of someone else.
‘Did You Mean To Fall Like That’ is a modern and clever exploration of sexuality, masculinity and mental health, wrapped neatly up in one man’s tale of both losing and reinventing himself.
This production runs daily at The Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker 3 at 11.35am until Sunday 25th August.
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