Four women on the run break into an aban­doned theatre to shel­ter from a ter­rible storm. The group’s lead­er, Benny, is the first to notice they’re not alone – there are two oth­ers in the build­ing. It takes the group of women a little while to dis­cov­er that the ‘oth­ers’ are ghosts but by then it might be too late…

This “col­lab­or­at­ive pro­duc­tion” comes from an idea and script by dir­ect­or Emma Maguire and explores dif­fer­ent reac­tions to grief. It’s a crack­ing ghost story with ele­ments of hil­ar­ity and hor­ror and exist­en­tial ennui.

The women – Beth Jones, Emii Wilson, Nat­alie Wilson, Mon­ica Reid – each get a chance to bring for­ward their character’s story in a short mono­logue. There are sec­tions of dance and some stage viol­ence so their roles are quite phys­ic­al at times. I liked the chem­istry between the dif­fer­ent pair­ings as they aired their griev­ances with each oth­er or stepped in to sup­port. I really enjoyed the snide com­ments between Logan McGregor and Tara West­on-Webb in their ghostly char­ac­ters.

NB: This show has a con­tent warn­ing for viol­ence and the pro­gramme includes organ­isa­tions to go to for help if you’re dis­tressed at the end of it.

Why are we still here  is one of 6 plays in the 6 Degrees Fest­iv­al all “led and cre­ated by Mas­ters stu­dents at Vic­tor­ia Uni­ver­sity. The fest­iv­al aims to intro­duce new emer­ging artists, whilst cel­eb­rat­ing a year of work and learn­ing; demon­strat­ing the know­ledge and exper­i­ence we have all gained.” Also on as part of the 6 Degrees Fest­iv­al at BATS Theatre:

This week:

Next week:

Buy a 3 show sea­son pass for dis­counts!