Don’t be fooled by the jaunty name, or that Toto Kerblammo! is a kids’ show about a dog: avant-garde theatre maker Tim Crouch’s latest is unsettling and existential and I would be pretty serious about enforcing the nine-plus suggested age rating. It’s also brave, moving, inventive and steadfastly emotionally truthful, an exploration of both unconditional love and the inability to accept love, told via the story of one girl and her faithful hound.
Oh, and also Toto Kerblammo! is a headphones-based work, with the cast of two augmented by sophisticated binaural sound design from Helen Skiera that both amps up the atmosphere and sense of intimacy, and allows for the inclusion of additional pre-recorded actors to play a trio of secondary adult roles – Crouch has roped in some decent names for this, notably the reliably brilliant Sinead Matthews who really puts some heart into the role of troubled protagonist Effie’s mum.
To the almost constant sound of driving, oppressive rain, the story starts in the middle, with Peyvand Sadeghian’s 12-year-old Effie and Felipe Pacheco’s Toto hit by a car, apparently as a result of her being in some considerable emotional distress.
It then diverges into two threads. In one Effie and Toto are in some otherworldly space – represented by Lily Arnold’s fluffy carpet set – after the accident, with him able to speak, and us gradually understanding that she is in a coma. In the other, the story unspools to show the events that led to the accident, as a shell-shocked, mistrustful Effie is forced to move in with her aunt and uncle after her mentally ill mother is taken into care. Pets are not allowed in their flat, but Effie has nobody else to turn to, so she smuggles Toto in.
Or at least, she thinks she has nobody to turn to: a young neighbour named Noah (also played by Pacheco) tries to befriend her, to her profound lack of gratitude. Ruthless unsentimentality has always been part of Crouch’s MO as a playwright and it’s ultimately Effie’s steadfast refusal to accept anyone’s kindness bar her dog’s that defines Toto Kerblammo! – it’s an exquisite portrait of childhood woundedness and emotional inarticulacy, the idea that it’s ultimately easier to love and be loved by a dog than people.
Is that fun for kids? I mean again, it is important to stress this is for slightly older children, but I think the truths Crouch touches on about life, death, love and pets will most certainly hit home with tweens, teens and beyond. I saw it with a group of older primary school kids, and there were titters as they adjusted to the headphones, but before long they were silent, as sucked in as the adults.