Review of Death Becomes Us, Fringe 2024

Birdy, now seemingly a regular at The Space at Surgeon’s Hall, once again made her way there for Death Becomes Us; she was lured in by the promise of robot bodies, and ended up crying instead.

Death happens to us all (well, apart from me; I’ll be getting a robot body), and Hannah Whittingham believes it’d be better for all of us if we only just talk about it. Tell you what, she’s not wrong.

The format

This is a show that’s part theatre, part cabaret, and part TED talk. Hannah Whittingham is on a mission to talk about death, and there’s music along the way. She makes several good points, with the aid of a screen to further illustrate them.

The vibe

I don’t mind talking about death, despite me giving the impression about it being a thing that happens to other people. But this isn’t a straightforward show about death; it’s also very personal and sentimental to Hannah. It’s a show about loss, grief, sadness and regret.

Also, she made me cry, damnit.

The show itself

Hannah talks about why we don’t talk about death. And why we bloody well should. We’d be far more prepared for it, and to cope with the loss of loved ones, if we just expressed ourselves instead of avoiding the subject entirely because it makes us uncomfortable.

She also talks about the four ways we’ve historically invented ways to ‘cheat’ death, such as reincarnation or having a soul that goes on. This is the part where I expected the introduction of robot bodies to come in – but it never did.

Hannah, where are the robot bodies I was promised?! Walt Disney’s head being defrosted doesn’t count in my book.

But this show is also deeply personal to Hannah, and we learn about how for a fairly long time, she was lucky in not really experiencing the loss of loves ones, only for it to then hit her quite brutally when she lost a few family members over a two-year period.

I could sympathise with that. I grew up similarly not really experiencing much loss until I reached my early 20s, when I realised just how much I’d taken for granted. In fact, I was surprised by just how much I related to Hannah’s story, and the regrets she had about not saying goodbye to some members of her family. I know that pain all too well. And the guilt, too.

However, it was one of the songs that caught me off guard the most, and I actually had to reach into my handbag and grab a tissue because I was crying actual tears. First tears of the Fringe, so thanks, Hannah!

Overall

Despite its funny title, and its promise of breaking taboos and talking about death in all its glory with a bit of humour thrown in, this is also a heartfelt, poignant and moving show that I wasn’t quite prepared for.

If you go to Death Becomes Us, don’t forget the tissues and to also possibly deal with some emotional stuff of your own.