In many ways, 2006 feels like a long time ago. Pre-credit crash, pre-Brexit, pre-pandemic – a different world. It’s understandable, then, that Shôn Dale-Jones was initially reluctant when he was invited to remount his 2006 show Floating. What can a piece of theatre from that past world say to the tumultuous present day?
Still Floating grapples with that question. One strand of the show revisits Floating, in which Dale-Jones’s theatrical alter-ego Hugh Hughes tells a surreal narrative about the Isle of Anglesey drifting away from – and eventually back to – mainland Britain. This is spliced together with the present, in which Dale-Jones makes a visit to Anglesey – Ynys Môn – the birthplace that he left behind, and questions what it really means to make a home.
In the wake of Brexit, there’s an obvious parallel between Anglesey’s fictional breakaway and the UK’s messy separation from the EU. This is reinforced by the present-day sections of the show, in which the German wife of Dale-Jones’s childhood friend has recently returned to her native Berlin. After the last few years, she no longer feels at home in Britain. Meanwhile, the holiday property boom in Anglesey is leaving locals homeless while half the houses sit empty. For different reasons, those born and bred on the island are also struggling to retain their sense of home.
There’s a lot going on here. Especially in the 2022 narrative, it can be a struggle to keep track of all the different elements and map out their connections. Pertinent issues – like the impact of holiday home ownership on communities – are introduced without ever being fully explored. And because so many ideas are packed in, there’s not room to properly reflect on the relationship between then and now in the revisiting of Dale-Jones’s earlier show. Towards the end, especially, it all feels a little rushed.
Luckily, Dale-Jones is a winning performer who just about manages to hold on to the various strands, even if he can’t quite tie them together. Maybe the lesson of the show, like the lesson Dale-Jones learns when he returns to the island, is that it’s never straightforward to go back.
• At Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 28 August.
• All our Edinburgh reviews
