Review: Everything Must Go at The Barbican

This is theatre I love.

Everything Must Go is an original piece by Kristin Fredricksson that is nothing more than an homage to her father. Orginally written for both her and her father, Karl Fredricksson, to perform, Everything Must Go is a celebration of an extraordinarily complex, brilliant, funny and sometimes slightly insane man through theatre, multimedia, puppetry, dance and sound. It is, at it’s heart, a chronicle of his life and testament to the amount of love that  his daughter holds for him.

As a piece of theatre, Everything Must Go has flaws. It’s structure is a little muddled, with some sections going on for far longer than they should, and others getting the briefest of glances. There are moments where you question the narrative style chose for the segment, propped up against others where its a perfect synergy of theatrical styles. However, none of this matters much, as it feels as if this is intentional to mirror her father’s life. Some bits are only glimpses, whereas others are ran out until it’s exhausted. Also, the story itself is so heartfelt and charming that it smooths over the flaws in the piece.

Fredricksson as an actor isn’t the strongest I’ve ever seen, but nobody else could, or for that matter should, perform this piece.

It truly is a masterpiece, and no amount of adjectives on my part can do it justice. If you’re not a sentimental person, this might not be for you. However, if you are then this could just be the thing you’re looking for.

Everything Must Go is playing at the Barbican until the 26 June