Piece of Work
★★★★★ Searching
Traverse Theatre: Sat 8 Mar 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar
Piece of Work, the second act of James Rowland’s Songs of the Heart trilogy, visiting the Traverse as part of a UK tour of all three shows, is, fittingly, about the “middle of life”.
Sandwiched between songs growing up and mortality, its pointedly tragedian title disguises the softness of Rowland’s work, the tender fragility that is every human life, no matter its triumphs or travails.
James Rowland performing Piece of Work at Summerhall, EdFringe 2023. Pic: Murdo MacLeod.
Despite announcing “this isn’t part of the show” in his extended pre-show routine, before changing into a matching set of pyjamas onstage, Rowland is storytelling from the moment the theatre doors open. Present onstage with a chair and table full of objects as the audience enters, Rowland paces, chats and observes, before launching into the performance proper.
Containing content warnings for “traces of Shakespeare” and “bad language” by whatever definition, Rowland lays the groundwork for the show itself. Foreshadowing things and people to come, while also warning of the serious and central theme of suicide in his story, he makes it explicitly clear that the audience are free to leave if they need to do so.
care
As he says, “content warnings only take us so far”, and no one knows for sure how they will react when confronted with something. Particularly in an intimate environment such as the Traverse 2, it could be difficult for a patron to decide to leave even if triggered, for fear of disturbing the performance, and Rowland’s acknowledgement of that potential need reinforces both the content which is to come, and the care with which he intends to present it.
James Rowland performing Piece of Work at Summerhall, EdFringe 2023. Pic: Murdo MacLeod.
From the moment he launches into the story at the instant a dried thistle blossom hits the stage, having held the audience rapt in the silence of its fall, Rowland is in command of the room, if not in control of the story. He wanders and rambles and takes tangents on his themes, but the show is designed to hold space for them, flexing with the performer’s energy and that of the audience.
With enviable skill, Rowland turns on a dime from frenetic energy to quiet profundity; it’s clear when he returns to the script, but none of his performance feels over-scripted. Even when, near the end, he holds in his extended hand a Bluetooth speaker and gazes on it like Yorick’s skull as it plays the final speech given by his father before his death, the image feels natural to the transient nature of existence and the complex filial relationship Rowland has expressed.
parallels
Though the story is not Hamlet and Rowland neither Shakespeare nor Burbage, the parallels he draws between that play and himself, his beloved brother living with suicidal ideation, their fractured relationships with their fathers, and the contemplation of life and what may lie beyond, serve to humanise and clarify Hamlet. They also impress upon the audience that we, any of us, may face the same struggles as Shakespeare’s immortal Dane along the course of our little lives.
James Rowland performing Piece of Work at Summerhall, EdFringe 2023. Pic: Murdo MacLeod.
Autobiographical and auto-expositional, Rowland harnesses events and people from his own life to reflect on humanity in its complexity, selfishness, and yearning— and more than anything, the incredible bigness of it all; how we, all of us, contain multitudes, at the same time as we, none of us, have the faintest idea what we’re doing, and how to be, or not to be.
Running time: One hour and 10 minutes (no interval)
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED.
Saturday 8 March 2025
Two shows: 5pm & 8pm.
Tickets and details: Run ended.
James Rowland is touring the Songs of the Heart trilogy (Learning to Fly, Piece of Work and James Rowland Dies at the End of the Show) round the UK until June 2025.
Full details on his website: https://jamesrowlandtouring.com.
James Rowland performing Piece of Work at Summerhall, EdFringe 2023. Pic: Murdo MacLeod.
ENDS
