Necrophilia

Joseph Lloyd
28th May 2019

Limelight on Oxford’s new short two week short run production, Necrophilia, is a disturbingly delicious story of discovery and mortality penned by Western Australian, Lincoln Vickery.

It centres around three employees of a mortuary, Amanda, Mark and Daren. Vickery is clever to use the peculiar setting of a morgue creating hilariously outrageous antics for the cast to explore - from dead client bodies going to the grave with erections, to the bewildering character dynamics between Amanda and Mark who seem to be infatuated with one another, with interactions couched in extreme awkwardness, to Darren’s love of having a passion to relieve himself in public.

Vickery’s complex writing style of farce comedy reels the audience in with riotous punch lines delivered flawless by the principal cast - Adam Sollis, Ariadne Sgouros and Jack Scott. Rolling in and out through the evening are minor characters played by the same actress, Emma O’Sullivan.

By this time, we’re so invested in the seeming plot and character development, particularly through the monologues of ‘Amanda’ as Vickery aligns common social themes of addiction and struggle to the fetish of Necrophilia.

Solid performances all round, particular with Sgouros portrayal of a bubbly Amanda who hides from her colleagues the deep rooted demons, Adam Sollis who plays Mark hid very well the truth about his identity, very animated style which came across bigger in the small theatre space, while the portrayal of Darren by Jack Scott was the perfect balance of rational and wingman to key setups and bringing home some of the show’s golden moments in belly laughs!

Vickery highlights necrophilia as a mental health issue and the internal conflict that goes on behind the scenes as we watch Amanda but more seriously the universal idea of having to keep face in public, having to hide your skeletons and being afraid of being judged.