All We Ever Wanted Was Everything: a fabulously fresh take on ‘gig theatre’

Beginning at 10-years old in the 90s against a backdrop of Harry Potter and Britpop, and finally ending amidst the more topical political chaos of 2017, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything elegantly weaves together themes of generational rifts, failing to meet our aspirations, and being doomed to perpetuate the legacy of our parents.

Despite the somewhat melancholic themes, there’s a buzzing energy in the room that extends throughout the entire 75-minute play. The clever use of each performer succinctly interchanging between acting and playing their instruments allows the fusion of Luke Barnes’s clever scriptwriting and James Frewer’s original music. The mood of each era is captured perfectly through notorious cultural references (like Nokia bricks and Donald Trump) and musical parodies.

For me, the standout performance was that of the MC, Marc Graham, who moved us from one section to the next smoothly despite the large time jumps. He knew exactly how to interact with the audience and kept the momentum of the play going without overpowering the stage. This was aided by the well-chosen venue, with the stage in the centre and seating on all four sides of the room; the audience could really feel almost a part of the performance.

The plot itself was nothing exceptional. The familiar tale of two kids coming to terms with the fallacy they’ve been convinced of by their parents their whole lives– that if they work hard they can be successful – and a harsh reality in which this promise fails to materialise. Despite following very different paths, they end up the same at 30 years old: drunk, disillusioned, and most of all, unhappy.

In reality, the simplicity of the storyline works in their favour; without the burden of keeping track of a complicated narrative, the audience can truly appreciate Paul Graham’s fantastic direction and the poignant performances of the actors.

Whether this was an intentional choice by Barnes or not, you leave the theatre in a state of self-reflection, and the thought that maybe, just maybe, the stories of Chris and Leah are not just of Chris and Leah, but of all of us.

Younger viewers can relate to wanting the ease and simplicity that our parents had; older viewers can relate to wishing for the opportunities and technology that their children have now.

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything intertwines the lost hopes and dreams of two generations and makes us wonder whether even though the environment around is constantly changing, does human nature ever really change? No matter who or how old, the characters always seemed to be after something they didn’t have or wallowing around and just waiting for good to magically come to them.

For me, the take home message was that the environment we live in is always going to leave us wanting more, whether that’s because of Brexit or the housing crisis. The play functioned as a statement that we should all collectively accept this and move on, and if we do this then we can begin to seek a better future. We aren’t going to simply ‘find’ a place in the world where we belong, we must make one for ourselves and “live our lives”, as Graham screams in his final impassioned monologue.

-4 stars