Fringe theatre review: Shielders

Shielders, a new digital play by Matilda Ibini, takes a unique look at the very alien world we now find ourselves in and its impact on those who still find themselves on the inside, looking out.

Michael Ahomka-Lindsay in Shielders at the Traverse Theatre.

Shielders ***

During lockdown in Glasgow, three friends meet up online to do a bit of UFO-watching and to reconnect with one another. Shahbaz (Michael Ahomka-Lindsay) is the most interested of the three in extraterrestrial happenings, and as someone who’s shielding for medical reasons, appears to be the most insular.

Trice (Danielle Fiamanya) and Zira (Laura Lovemore) are fun-loving millennial women and ex-lovers who aren’t quite so constrained as lockdown eases, who both end up out of the house and masked at a house party before long. The alien abduction event which Shahbaz appears to experience while they’re out having fun may be real, or it may initially be seen as a comment upon the state of his mental health during this period.

At twenty-five minutes, there’s something of a work in progress feel to this piece by playwright Matilda Ibini. Many of its themes feel underdeveloped or loosely-connected, yet given the difficult circumstances of its creation – with each performer on a different screen, edited together as though they’re Zooming live – that the naturalistic crackle of Ibini’s dialogue remains largely intact is a testament to director Debbie Hannan, the three performers and video designer Lewis den Hertog.

See https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/traverse-festival

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