Fringe Extra Barnstaple

DEATH (by PowerPoint)

Liam Gifford

A show 38 years in the making, DEATH (by PowerPoint) promises a fusion of the fear of the end, wonderings of what's next and a grave sense of humour shared through the most exhausting medium of all: PowerPoint (just don't tell Bill Gates).

DEATH (by PowerPoint) is the first solo show by North Devon-raised theatre-maker, Liam Gifford who has previously performed locally with OpenBatch Theatre, White Hippos and The Monday Collective. It was with The Monday Collective whom Liam last performed in North Devon at Fringe TheatreFest in 2013 with the highly-regarded shows 1000 Words and 46 Minutes - the latter performed at St Anne’s. In the years since, Liam has made work which has been presented across the UK including at Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Hat Fair Outdoor Arts festival and Chichester Festival Theatres. He is a long-term collaborator with the nationally-regarded ZoieLogic Dance Theatre, working closely with their Artistic Director, Zoie Golding MBE, on a number of professional and community projects.

Liam’s most recent works have been large-scale mass participation performances with performers from across the West Midlands as part of both the Commonwealth Games Festival in 2022 and the Birmingham Festival in 2023. He is currently working on The Big Movement with ZoieLogic Dance Theatre as well as producing new works with fellow working class artists which he hopes will be ready for public performances later in 2025 or early 2026.

Please note limited access and no wheelchair access to St Anne's.

Review by Jane Elliott 01/07/2024

The show is a beautiful study of bereavement, grief and cherished memories with a lot of laughter. Liam uses the Powerpoint simply as a presentation for his exploration into how death has a grave sense of humour. If, like me and other audience members, you have suffered a recent bereavement, you will very much appreciate Liam’s delicate sensitive wit as he describes the death of his father Paddy. The moment when Liam buries his father in the company of his two sisters is probably the funniest moment in the show and yet so desperately beautiful and sad at the same time.

Liam’s style of delivery was very fresh and engaging. I was so caught up in the story of Liam’s journey from Bideford East to his new life in Southampton that the show seemed to go very quickly.

Death is something inevitable that we will all have in our lives. How we deal with death and the grief that stays with us forever is still a subject that is often unspoken. Liam’s show re-evaluates the human response of grave humour to our darkest moments.