Saga, Greenside, review

Saga, a bilingual play adapted from Ibsen’s A Dream Play, sees God’s daughter descend to Earth in search of love – but she what she finds down there is nothing like she imagined. People and their lives are a mess. Young professionals can’t afford to move out of their parents’ house, people are afraid to love and only feel comfortable in the world of online dating, talent is abused, vloggers are going to extremes to get the addictive likes, and activism is pretence. Saga is not searching for a probable dystopian future but is shining the light on all of the problems we are already facing, creating an on-the-nose yet surprisingly easy to watch satire. 

The four actresses change between a number of characters quickly and effectively, making it a joy to watch. The set and costume design, as well as the use of props, are simple yet always clearly setting the place of action and the identity of the protagonists. It is great to see that the four women do not rely solely on the costumes and props to differentiate the characters, but give each one a separate voice and gait – an all-together separate identity. 

Although performed in a combination of English and Swedish without subtitles, Saga is completely graspable. Even when the some of the dialogue remains a mystery (unless you are bilingual in the two languages), the gist of each scene can be understood due to the prevalence of English, and the simplicity of the plot.

Overall, Saga is a funny and easily-digestible show. Which is also its biggest problem. Speaking about the superficiality of the vlogging world, Saga remains almost as superficial. After an hour spent in the company of the Stones Theatre Company, I did not go out with any deeper or new understanding of the world around me. Instead, it just offered a couple of sad laughs about things we already know.