Everyone knows *that* Brooklyn Nine-Nine scene. Jake Peralta has assembled a gang of goons in front of a mugshot board. Next to him, a grieving woman wonders which of them killed her brother. Their only clue? The killer was heard singing ‘I Want It That Way’ by the Backstreet Boys. One verse later, all of the crooks (and probably everyone watching) shout out “I NEVER WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY, I WANT IT THAT WAY!”. The scene is a masterpiece of absurdist comedy, so it was a delightful surprise to see a parody crop up on Symptom of Life’s Instagram the day before my interview with its director, Wahida Seisay.

“This is a crew who know how to get attention”

I quickly brought this up with her. A few quick scrolls through their page reveal a team that clearly enjoys being around each other, reflecting that in their mutual creativity. From turning a get-in into a sing-along to Hamilton, to asking people on the street whether it’s morally acceptable to kill one person and donate their organs to save ten others, this is a crew who know how to get attention. They’re clearly invested in making this show the biggest it can be; some of them have been working with Seisay from its very beginning.

Symptom of Life began as something much more boring for Education student Seisay: coursework. She recounts how her group was given from October to May to either write or direct a play; gathering a cast in exam season being no easy task, writing quickly became the popular choice. The result, Symptom of Life, revolves around Lara, who has been convicted of an unknown crime.

“The show will be as much a challenge for the audience as for the creative team”

Seisay and I both agree that monologue-heavy shows need a bit of spicing up if they’re to stay engaging. Lara tells the audience the story of her life, and how she got to where she is, but her unreliable narration puts many of these events into doubt. The play is set in a liminal space containing Lara, the audience, and a secret third party – no spoilers from me – but let’s just say it’s a very good use of tech and something she is very excited to see the audience react to. She emphasises, frequently, that the show will be as much a challenge for the audience as for the creative team. Already, I’m getting flashbacks to when I reviewed pool (no water) last term, and how excited I was at being encouraged to read between the lines – it sounds like I’m putting back on the old detective hat for this one. My English degree has never felt so validated.

Seisay has an extensive Camdram page, having begun directing in Cambridge with the freshers’ play Blue Stockings. Her style began with an emphasis on realism, but over time she has become more comfortable with theatre containing fewer explicit markings of setting and time. Her desire for authenticity has instead been redirected to her dialogue. A chatty person, she tells me: “The way I write is very similar to the way I talk.” And so she was all too keen to accommodate actors’ requests to modify dialogue in ways that made the text feel more genuine for them. We discussed how hard it is to balance verisimilitude with dramatic efficiency; sometimes the yapping’s just gotta face the chopping board.

What’s clear throughout our conversation is that Seisay is highly aware of how an audience may perceive events on stage. She tells me about directing an extract of the script for A Cauldron of BATS in October, and how she took note when someone squirmed or leaned forward. Audience attentiveness is what she strives to sustain throughout her work: she tells me with glee about an exercise she did where if an actor created any awkward pauses, she would shout “Ba!” to make them pick up the pace. It’s a good way to ensure rapid delivery in dialogues, as well as jumping on any pesky actor who hadn’t learnt their lines properly. I doubt this happened too frequently – the play contains some very notable Camdram stars – but I’m sure this method of strict theatrical discipline helped to sustain their efforts.

It’s been a long road for Seisay and her team to get to this point. Having been unable to secure a slot at the ADC (an experience she now sees as a blessing in disguise) to coming back and seizing the Corpus Playroom, all that’s left to see is how their efforts pay off. This play’s spent a long time in the making, folks: it’ll be an absolute delight to see its fruition.

‘Symptom of Life’ is showing at the Corpus Playroom from Wednesday 5 until Saturday 8 February, at 9:30pm.