by Diana Miranda

It’s often said that storytelling sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. What no one says is that telling stories is no rudimentary act, but a labyrinth of tangents, digressions, and U-turns. Enter Brave Mirror Productions and Attention Span, “a series of short sketches for people with short attention spans,” as its creators put it. This high-energy satire turns the mind inside out to dive into its rabbit holes, unravelling the tangled web within the human brain.

Joseph Hollas’ fast-paced play features a collection of bite-sized stories brought to life thanks to a multi-roling cast (Joe Deighton, Daniel Golding, Finn Lanchester, Tallula White, Danielle De Vries). A nerdy narrator acts as an emcee, reading from his trusty Amazon Kindle to cue up various characters, including a needy mobile phone, an excitable dog that turns into a Don Juan, and a rising star so popular that he literally burns to the touch.

Directed by Jamie Saul, the performers zip on and off stage as swiftly as intrusive thoughts about our lunch cravings. An air of mockery permeates the show, with exaggerated performances and ridiculous situations underscoring each scenario, be it a crowded tube carriage, the gates of heaven or even Jeff Bezos’ humanity-saving rocket (Amazon App at the ready!) 

Attention Span is undeniably disjointed, the performers powering through its loosely outlined plot. But what’s truly clever about the show is the series of wormholes that miraculously connect some of the skits. Take, for instance, the tube ride featuring rowdy partygoers and a frustrated pregnant woman, who just so happens to be carrying the narrator’s child. She reappears later, babe in arms, to confront him as he deals with Cupido grappling with a midlife crisis and preparing for a motorcycle stunt. Recurring motifs keep popping back up like a bungee cord, and isn’t that exactly what the bounce between focus and distraction is like? Brave Mirror has crafted a show in which form and content are cleverly aligned.

From parks to boardrooms, onstage monitors display various locations – the confines of the screens echoing the fragmented nature of our limited attention spans. And no show called Attention Span would be complete without the pinnacle of quick-content culture: wacky TikTok-style videos that leave both narrator and audiences scratching their heads. 

Playful cardboard props lend a deliciously analogue vibe to the storytelling, making the satire even more satisfying. These props underscore how trivial and throwaway our distractions may be – like making a cup of tea, switching to coffee, or raiding the fridge for some cheese. 

At its core, the show is a mockery of modern-day attention deficits (oh look, an ice cream van), fuelled by our obsession with instant gratification (oh look, an even larger ice cream van!) and technology addiction, from social media to app dependency (is that a BBC Breaking News Alert I heard?). In truth, who can’t relate to that? Its reliance on over-the-top silliness as it packs an array of skits in 50 minutes might be unpolished, but it guarantees a night of laughter and unabashed cultural commentary. 

Attention Span runs through August 22. 

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