Emerging Artist Festival
Spark Festival 2025
25 September 2025
Imagine this: you’re sitting on the sofa in your New York apartment — the lights are turned off and you’re watching a video on your phone, in the dark. Suddenly you receive a phone call and it is the worst news that you could receive: your mom has passed away. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she died by being choked to death — accidentally — by a dominatrix! And your dad knew your mom was seeing a dominatrix and was okay with it! And you just found out all of this information about your now dearly departed mother…
How does one cope with the grief, the responsibility, the knowledge of their parent’s bedroom habits, the anger, the fear — all of the emotions that come with losing their mother?
That is the core of the this show.
The Rug centres around two characters: Amy (played by Sam Besca) and her boyfriend, Liam (played by Balfour Clark). The entire show takes place within one set, with zero scene changes. And it flows beautifully despite the fact that the premise, while a very real situation — losing one’s mother and especially suddenly — being crossed with the absurdity of how that mother ceases to be; the whole show felt natural.
Both characters go through an emotional roller coaster. Whether they are crying one minute, laughing the next, fighting a second later, or ready to rip each others clothes off (special shout out for the prop of the futon — turning the sofa into the bed just felt so amazingly appropriate for a New York City apartment and was a wonderful touch), the complexity of the emotions never wavered.
Throughout the show, the audience learns back story about the two characters. Liam, for instance, had a drinking problem at some point and Amy does not feel that she can count on her father to handle anything, including her mother’s funeral. But what makes this show so amazing aren’t these plot points or the character development — it’s how natural the dialogue, the chemistry between the two stars, and most importantly how natural the complexity of grieving comes across. Not once during this show did I feel like I was watching two actors on a stage. This entire production felt very genuine.
Written by Electra Artemis and directed by Lena Pepe, this show has the unique ability to remind the audience that it’s okay to laugh — even in the bad times. In fact, you have to — especially in the bad times. Because if you don’t, then the bad times can simply be too miserable. So you laugh.
I lost my own mother back in 2021. She certainly didn’t die in any similar fashion as the one in this show, but the emotions were the same. The panic of realising you are helpless to change the situation, the anger at not just her being gone, but at the universe for allowing it. The fear of having to pick up some of her responsibilities. The whirlwind of putting together a funeral and picking out what your mother should be buried in — hell, even having the very realistic thoughts including what happens to the body after death. And wondering the very basic question of “was she scared?”
I remember feeling all of those things and more.
I don’t know if any of the actors, the director, or the writer has lost their own mothers, but they all certainly nailed what it feels like.
As the show is now, the run time is just under an hour. Which is admittedly a bit short for even most one act shows. However, this show does work, as is. If the creative team would like to expand the script, I would think mostly for time, it could be worth diving more into Liam’s past alcohol usage. There is a beautiful moment where he is left alone with a glass of alcohol and he pauses with it in his hand and you can actually see the character thinking about drinking it.
The only other plot element that I felt could potentially be expanded is the relationship between Amy and her father. The audience gets glimpses of why Amy feels she must do everything for him, but we don’t necessarily get the full depth of it. That being said, again, it isn’t actually needed because the script just feels so genuine as is.
I highly recommend this show. You will certainly laugh, you will most likely cry, and you’ll leave the theatre a better person for it.