The story of this unique one-woman show follows the life of Hannah as she leaves her traditional office job in pursuit of living her life as a sheep. The play itself takes place at Hannah’s leaving do as she begins to explain why she no longer wants to live life as a human and instead wants to live amongst her sheepy friends. Now explaining this plot to family and friends was constantly met with confused faces, but once you learn about Hannah’s new life, it does start to make a lot of sense. The character clearly possesses a degree of autistic traits (although she is highly relatable to neurotypical individuals) as she discusses how she struggles to fit in with the other people in her life, and specifically in the workplace. In an attempt to fit in, Hannah completes copious amounts of research into the rules of human interactions, such as not interrupting and not over-sharing, but very quickly realises these rules are often broken by the people in her life, but nobody seems to be worried unless it is her doing it. This leads to a hilarious story of Hannah attending a “no rules” rave where she begins to lose her inhibitions and amplifies her social connections; however, as the sun comes up, she realises that these people were not paying attention to her but instead were clearly under the influence of some sort of substance. The embarrassment of this event causes Hannah to flee into a nearby field, where she is introduced to and starts an obsession with her sheep-y friends. She discovers that Sheep fundamentally aims to stick together, have a very simple life (mainly just eating and relaxing), and not have to worry about the social ‘rules.’ Within the production, Hannah decides to bring up a member of the audience to join in with her expressive and unique dancing, who just so happened to be Nye Russell-Thompson (The writer of Stammermouth, which you can read about at https://getthechance.wales/2019/09/08/review-just-a-few-words-stammermouth-by-rhys-payne/) Later in the production, Hannah talks about attending a sex party where she meets a random stranger who decides not to follow the rules outlined at the club, which causes her further confusion in terms of the rules of human interactions.
If you have read our review of the UK cast recording of For Tonight (which you can read at https://rhysreviews.com/2021/07/29/for-tonight-recording-review/), you will be aware that I am in fact a very proud Welshman. One of the main things my hometown/the land of song, is known for is and that is sheep. Did you know that statistically speaking there is almost four sheep per person in Wales and there is the obviously the stereotype of what Welsh people do with sheep…. with all this in mind it must of added an extra layer of pressure for Ruth Berkoff (who we recently interviewed on our YouTube channel which you can watch at https://youtu.be/ZRVPp1QKfeI?si=fJ286kTC5U1RGAXs) bringing her sheep-tastic show to the unofficial home of sheep. However Ruth brings this production with a certain level of respect for the animal as she senses a series of interesting facts about sheep which even I, as a proud Welshman, was not aware of. There is a section of the show where Hannah shares that Sheep utilise Peripheral vision in order to see where potential predators may be. This has the audience testing their own Peripheral vision by seeing how far their hands can go before they are out of view. This production also sees Hannah don a purposefully crafty sheep outfit in order to blend in with the rest of the sheep in her flock. This includes mismatched socks as hooves, pants on their head to cover a coloured hairband, thermal layers to represent wool, etc, which not only was hilarious to visually look at but also made sense as the character herself did not to ‘transition’ into a sheep but rather just live how sheep live.
Not only was this show jam packed with interesting sheep facts but also saw our lead actress showcase her vocal abilities in a range of emotionally powerfully yet hilariously entertaining songs. One of the most iconic songs in this production was the pseudo-theme tune“The Thing About Sheep is there not deep”, which was an insanely catchy song that stayed in my head days after watching this performance. As previously discussed, this show is set at the lead character Hannah’s leaving do, and so the audience takes on the role of the other guests. Throughout the production, Hannah talks directly to the audience (as one would to their guests at a leaving party) as they explain how they have decided to live life as a sheep. This staging not only made perfect sense but also encouraged the audience to join Hannah on her journey, leaving them considering how much easier life would be as a sheep. The almost stream of consciousness allowed the audience to really understand the character, and so by the end of the production, they are genuinely considering how much easier life would be as a sheep. Hannah’s vulnerability and honesty help to instantly build a connection with the audience (which is only amplified by the fact they are technically a part of the story), and so in the closing moments of the show, there is a genuine sense a togetherness and friendship which is actually acknowledged within the show itself. Nothing demonstrates this more than the closing reprise of the pseudo-theme song “The Thing About Sheep” as the entire audience sings and dances along. The entire show is structured in such a way that the song manages to encapsulate key moments of the show, which helps to create a full-circle narrative, which I personally always really enjoy!
In conclusion, The Beauty of Being Herd is a highly relatable story exploring the complexities and difficulties of social interactions. While the story itself is unique and unorthodox, Jenna has ensured that every single person in the audience (and pretty much the world) will be able to pick out parts of the story to relate to. This allows the audience to become immersed and totally invested in the show from the very moment she steps onto the stage with a fun sing-along at the end, so the audience leaves entertained but also with something to think about. I would rate this production 4 out of 5 stars!
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