SUSU Theatre Group 
University Of Southampton (Highfield Campus), Southampton 
David A Putley
14 June 2025
It was quite a privilege to be invited to see this production before it hurtles its way to Edinburgh as part of the usual Fringe Festival later this year. Directors Lily Akers and Kat Fevyer have managed to fuse modern storytelling, very much in the vein of Constellations, for instance with Victorian Music Hall melodrama complete with a mad laughing villain (or is he?).
The play is based on the 1920s German silent film, The Cabinet Of Caligari, set in post-war Weimar (or is it?) about a demented hypnotist who keeps a sleepwalking servant, Cesare, as a freak performer, forcing them in their unconscious state to commit murders around the town. It questions abuse of power, social responsibility, and the manipulation of the masses repeatedly across time by those in power.
As in Constellations, the cast repeat scenarios from differing perspectives, but go one stage further in that they also drop in and out of their respective roles to question their own performance, where the story is heading, and even if it should be told. Good people are murdered for no real reason as to the whim of Tyler Raines’ Caligari, a very bold and confident performance with a laugh to chill the bones.
Cesare was beautifully portrayed by Tezni Williams, as a sad lonely soul, to be pitied as a victim rather than abhorred. I liked the use of the red ribbons deftly revealed from a long sleeve.
Zayn Khan handled a difficult section concerning his portrayal as father with aplomb, questioning how his performance of that could have been better. All the monologues were excellently given centre stage as the audience were caught up in what was going to happen next. Saskia Blindloss, Melis Ensert and Belle Priestley brilliantly championed the only other named characters with zest and conviction whilst Emily Norman, Charlotte Pearce and Toby Walden each shone in their A B C and D chorus of challengers and reflectors.
The set has to be simple and the space in the lecture theatre was very well adapted by Morgan Allen to allow the performances alone to shine. Audience members were encouraged to sit very closely to the action, almost becoming part of it as the actors on many occasions eye-balled us in almost defiance of the words they were speaking. A single “lair” in the centre of the stage allowed for Cesare’s entrance and exist emphasising their isolation from everyone else.
Given the play lasted less than an hour, it is a tribute to all that within a few moments characters were identified and cared for. The costuming was very “German” in look of the period but also modernist giving the feel of suspended in time which, given the themes of autocracy, control and power a “now” resonance. The make-up was quirky for each character, with lines and swirls to define a role but also adding to an ethereal feel and where exactly we were in all this: passive observers or complicit participants.
Lots of questions throughout were never really answered but for me it was a play within life; a kind of purgatory setting where nothing seemed real and, as often mentioned, “that moment between sleep and awaking“: the repeated “don’t let the bed bugs bite” statement heralding another possible murder or a metaphor for change. The ending is such that it supports an idea we can do this all again and perhaps change the whole narrative next time: a kind of new day, new dawn response and a half thought popped into my head that would the play, when repeated an hour later, indeed be different? Could there be a differing outcome: I almost wanted to stay to find out.
For a young set of individuals to bring such a thought-provoking piece of “difficult” theatre together in this form should be very well congratulated. All participants in bringing Caligari to life should be very pleased and I feel it will go down a storm in Edinburgh, with audiences thirsty for the quirky and stimulating entertainment performed here. Bravo to all concerned.
For those heading to Edinburgh, you can support Southampton’s Students by attending performances at 10:35am from 18 – 23 August 2025. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.
[Editorial: Further information about SUSU Theatre Group‘s forthcoming production of Caligari at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is available here on their website.]
