Live from tier 3 and shot in an empty theatre, we are invited to a comedy show. Like the current world situation, it feels apocalyptic to laugh at what’s being said, and see a dark, empty theatre looking back. On stage performing is comedian Lewis Costello. He’s performed around the world as well as opened up for many big names, yet in this short, we see him vulnerable and open through emotion and laughter.
It’s just a few minutes long, but I was hooked. It’s the kind of thing you’d see on Netflix, and the director and editor Samuel Andrew Fenton can be thanked for that. Quality really is a key word for this, and the effort put into it is appreciated. It’s clean and crisp compared to the shadows of an empty space, feeling spooky yet inviting.
Written by Costello, he talks to us about his experience of isolation after the last few months of UK lockdown. From toilet roll and death, to Fake Taxi and mask judgement, we don’t really realise what has happened this year until someone lays it out for us, at least I don’t anyway. It feels like it’s disappeared so quickly, even though halfway through it all we all wished it would hurry up. I think that Lewis does an excellent job in summing up how we’ve all been feeling in a way that allows us to be vulnerable with him yet have a laugh at what a joke the last year has been too.
We want to go back to normal and be happy, but as the short suggests, we don’t know when, what or how, even if the normal we want is the normal we should have. But through a good laugh, we start to feel a little less alone and know that sticking together will help us feel better, even if that means staying apart. I think Isolated by Lewis Costello is the perfect narration to what’s been happened and what’s to come.