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“The Sh*t” at the Bush Theatre

Kenny Emson’s play tells the story of a youth worker, Eric, and his client, Daniel. The script is detailed and tidy, qualities reflected in Alexander Ferris’ admirable direction. The performances are excellent.

Eric and Daniel meet often (I’m not quite sure your average troubled youth gets this much quality attention) and the drama of their developing and turbulent relationship is effective, if predictable.

Eric’s troubled past is expected, too. And doesn’t quite explain his connection with the younger man. But Lladel Bryant’s performance in the role is exceptional – the growing care and exasperation he feels with Daniel is believable and moving.

The writing for Emson’s younger character is better. Daniel provokes and challenges not just his youth worker but the audience. Dillon Scott-Lewis brings out the intelligence and humour of the role and allows Daniel to be vulnerable as well as angry.

It is a little too easy to see The Sh*t as a two-hander that aches to be expanded. Eric’s boss is a voiceover performed by Samantha Béart and, while Bryant does his best, these scenes are poor. Maybe the idea was that having an offstage manager would provide a Big Brother scenario – but both the role and the arguments need to be stronger.

Eric’s despair and rage against the system – and its scorecard assessments of people – may be naïve, but it is powerful. The recurring question of how Daniel rates with “managing feelings” – a score that Eric doesn’t reveal – is worth considering with regards to all three characters. The scope to develop and focus on this theme is clear.

Until 23 April 2022

www.bushtheatre.co.uk

Photo by Ant Robling

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“I Know I Know I Know” at the Southwark Playhouse

Confidently written and well performed, Flora Wilson Brown’s new play is an intelligent and sensitive examination of sexual abuse. This ambitious work is worth checking out, despite not being an easy play for two reasons.

First, the subject matter is tough. We hear the story of a young woman who was groomed by a pop star, only later revealing the truth now that he is famous. Meanwhile, the musician is travelling to a wedding with an old friend, so the audience sees him in a very different light. It’s a neat way of challenging preconceptions, further aided by surprising humour on Wilson Brown’s part.

With both extended scenes delivered at the same time, I Know I Know I Know is dense viewing that makes demands on the audience. But the results are worth it. The dialogue overlaps in a marvellous fashion. Aided by Harry Tennison’s direction, there are explosive connections from the simplest words. As the moods of the three characters in the piece change, the script has a tense, flowing energy.

I Know I Know I Know isn’t perfect. Victoria Maytom’s set is an unhappy affair that doesn’t help the audience work out what’s going on and seems like an obstacle course for the performers. Anna Short’s sound design is effective but lacks the subtlety of the script. The lighting, from Ryan Day, is more appropriate – drawing the audience in and out of the action with an ebb and flow that fits the piece.

I know I know I know credit Ellie Kurttz
Ethan Moorhouse and Martha Watson Allpress

Wilson Brown’s well-written roles produce great performances. Well done to Martha Watson Allpress and Ethan Moorhouse, who play friends from university whose lives have become very different. They both have their problems. Watson Allpress brings a febrile energy to her role, while Moorhouse reveals his rock star character’s demons gradually. The key is that both are likeable – she has a wit to warm to, and he brings charm appropriate to the character’s success.

It is the victim, Alice, who is the focus of the show, and this proves a triumph for Wilson Brown and performer Hannah Khalique-Brown. There’s a lot of detail about Alice’s trauma; how the affair started and developed as well as how it has affected her. But this is written and delivered with a balanced approach that avoids sensationalism. Alice is a character whose honesty we never doubt (it must have been tempting to introduce scepticism for the sake of drama?). That Alice is still in love with the man who had been so terrible to her is haunting.

Wilson Brown has to skim around some of the interesting points that make her characters well rounded. And the play’s resolution, while emotional, feels truncated. But the piece is weighty and easily intense enough to impress. The age gap between the characters isn’t as great as they themselves seem to think, and that we aren’t dealing with some seedy Saville type is an important point. The play succeeds in bringing fresh insight to an important topic.

Until 16 April 2022

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Photos by Ellie Kurttz

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“Sad” at the Omnibus Theatre

There are solid performances and Marie McCarthy’s careful direction to enjoy at Victoria Willing’s new play. Unfortunately, the script is not a success. Aimless and indulgent, its baby-boomer characters become a bore.

It’s brave of Willing to make her heroine Gloria (who suffers from seasonal affective disorder) unsympathetic. It’s a big part for Debra Baker, who is faultless. But it’s hard to make someone moaning for 90 minutes interesting.

Even worse, there’s little insight into Gloria’s problems. She is grieving for her mother and dissatisfied that her life hasn’t turned out as planned. There’s a mass of detail that is messy and it is too confusing for us to feel sorry for her.

The play becomes distracted with subplots about Gloria’s affair, her best mate from Slovakia and… the housing crisis. These provide difficult roles for her husband and friend, who Kevin N Golding and Izabella Urbanowicz tackle with skill. Desperate efforts to provide back stories that add depth to both roles fail and intrude further on the main story. And there’s a dire role as the next-door neighbour for Lucas Hare, who tackles some terrible dialogue bravely. 

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Debra Baker

Some of the scenes might work as stand-alone sketches but, joined together, Sad amounts to less than the sum of its parts. Is there a lust for something random I’m missing here? There are plenty of coincidences in the piece. Gloria is supposed to captivate (and, goodness, Baker tries) as a former punk and free spirit. Lucid dreams and mentions of storytelling intrigue – she’s even writing a memoir, albeit one even she knows isn’t very interesting. It’s a shame some of this isn’t elaborated on. If some kind of crazy is the aim, Willing needs more originality.

Worst of all, the play is flagged as a comedy. And it took me far too long to work out why. A handful of lame one-liners and deadpan remarks indicate the intention to be funny. This seems to be the only excuse for Hare’s character (or that someone in local government really pissed off Willing). This creepy, clichéd council official is odd rather than comical. I’ve seldom seen a more humourless play, despite the efforts of those on stage.

Until 30 April 2022

www.omnibus-clapham.org

Photo by Dan Tsantilis

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“Project Dictator” at the New Diorama Theatre

It’s not uncommon for a night at the theatre to combine comedy and tragedy. But Rhum + Clay’s new show moves from laughs to trauma particularly well. So well, it makes Project Dictator difficult to write about. This is one of those shows that knowing too much about might spoil. 

Co-directors and performers Julian Spooner and Matt Wells take their audience on a theatrical journey full of smart surprises. Assisted with direction by Hamish MacDougall, and joined onstage by composer and musician Khaled Kurbeh, Project Dictator has lot to say and plenty of ideas. The show is well executed throughout.

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So, what’s going on? We start with a serious play within the play…but performed as a farce. An earnest writer and performer, Jeremy, is an appealing character. There’s the kind of observation – and panegyric to democracy – we expect. Gently mocking, not least artists like themselves, Spooner and Wells show strong comedy skills. A little slapstick goes a long way.

There are more laughs as Jeremy’s single cast member, a supernumerary who finds his voice, takes over. With a power struggle onstage, and calling on the crowd, we get the dictator the title promises. There’s a lot of audience participation here – be prepared to read out loud, dance in your seat and even draw. Jeremy shares my feelings about a fourth wall, and I can’t say I enjoyed all this. But, unlike a lot of audience participation, it is very well done and has a point.

This dictator wants more fun…but very deliberately the show doesn’t become funnier. At what point do you notice a sinister edge? The satire becomes keener, and that participation has an aim – to highlight how easy complicity with a charismatic figure can be.  The tone is more provocative and, had the show ended here, I’d have still been happy.

There’s a final surprise though, where Project Dictator becomes very dark indeed. It turns out what we’ve seen is the performance of comedians who get into trouble with a real regime. Stripped and hooded, after their anarchy, the curtain rises again on a chillingly controlled mime show. Forced to perform, and showing their fear, will a final act of rebellion occur? Now that I won’t reveal.

Until 30 April 2022

www.newdiorama.com

Photos by Cesare De Giglio

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“Anyone Can Whistle” at the Southwark Playhouse

Not even Stephen Sondheim got it right every time. This 1964 musical has the feel of being penned by a tyro, albeit one who is a genius. While responding to a spirit of counter-culture this revival, directed by Georgie Rankcom, adds confusion.

It’s sacrilegious to criticise Sondheim (and rightly so). Thankfully many faults can be allocated to Arthur Laurents’ book. After all, there are lots of good songs here you will probably recognise.

Anyone Can Whistle has a “rundown town” that manufactures a religious miracle for financial gain. But surprisingly little is done with this idea. At the same time, inmates from a mental asylum called, ahem, the Cookie Jar, run amuck. Surprise! It’s hard to tell who is really insane. There’s an odd lack of satire as the show aims to be a parable and ends up simplistic and tiresome.

The production doesn’t iron out the show’s problems (which would be tough). Attempts at audience participation are ham-fisted and the humour poorly delivered (too many jokes are rushed). There’s no sense of place or time and, with accents all over the place, it seems safe to say that’s deliberate. But the piece is stuck in its period, preoccupied with adolescent rebellion, vague protest and forms of therapy.

Rankcom does a good job working with the traverse stage and Lisa Stevens’ choreography is admirably energetic. But the performances are too broad and there are problems with hearing lines clearly enough. What fun Sondheim’s lyrics possess is often lost.

Alex Young, as the town’s mayor, is a notable exception to all the production’s problems. Like her character, Young is a woman who can handle a crowd, and she adds laughs as well as silliness, which helps in a piece that takes itself surprisingly seriously.

Chrystine Symone

Other performances need more nuance – how much this could be injected despite the script is open to debate. Our hero and heroine, J Bowden Hapgood and Nurse Fay Apple, performed with determination by Jordan Broatch and Chrystine Symone, are flat and their romance unconvincing. Is the somewhat flippant view of mental illness that comes with the show’s simplicity the problem? Even if it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, it has repercussions for their love affair that Broatch and Symone’s undoubtable charm cannot save. This too-brief encounter comes across as odd. We only learn catchphrases for characters.

The societal critiques in Anyone Can Whistle and the topic of mental health have an appeal. Rankcom and his cast respond with genuine enthusiasm to challenging the mainstream. It’s nice so see this inspiration. But, as the work itself is immature, the production becomes tarnished with the same quality. Enthusing an audience about such a hotchpotch of ideas, while not exactly needing a miracle, turns out to be a leap of faith too far.

Until 7 May 2022

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Photos by Danny With A Camera

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“The Human Voice” at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Jean Cocteau’s 1928 play presents one side of a telephone conversation between a woman and her former husband. It’s an intimate piece, at times unbearable so, as the woman’s despair at the end of her marriage threatens her sanity. The Human Voice is depressing, but undeniably powerful.

With such a stripped back idea – just one woman talking – there is a sense the play is better suited to small venues. The only other production I’ve seen was in the tiny Gate Theatre. In truth, the show is a little lost on a West End stage, a problem exacerbated by Jan Versweyveld’s design for this production which reduces what we see to the size of a cinema screen.

Our current dependency on phones is presaged by Cocteau – it makes the urgency of crossed lines and calls cut off even greater than the writer imagined. Audience members struggling to last this hour long show without checking their mobiles confirms all this. But it is the feelings of someone abandoned that drive the show rather than a comment on technology.

Director Ivo Van Hove’s adaptation does well to emphasise the sophisticated emotions Cocteau documents. And the intensity in the script is brilliantly depicted by Ruth Wilson. From initially pretending she is coping well with the breakup, to totally breaking down, Wilson’s confidence in the role is brave and justified.

Moments when her character is manic, literally barking like a dog, are balanced by prolonged stillness – it’s hard to work out which is more uncomfortable. If the production has a flaw, it is that this discomfort becomes confrontational. Van Hove’s ending, suggesting suicide, is extreme. And turning parts of the script into a monologue (so that we further question the characters sanity) jar. Thankfully, Wilson’s excoriating performance manages to save the production.

Until 9 April 2022

www.thehumanvoiceplay.co.uk

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“Diary of a Somebody” at the Seven Dials Playhouse

Few doubt Joe Orton’s plays are brilliant and important. But to judge from his diaries, which John Lahr uses for this play, he was a pretty awful person. Lahr’s strategy for success, shared in this admirable revival, is to make someone so unpleasant good company – at least for a couple of hours.

George Kemp takes the lead as Orton and has no choice but to carry the show. It’s Orton’s voice, after all – monotonously so – and Kemp manages to bring an impish humour to proceedings. Orton’s self-presentation is so forceful, with so little self-doubt, that the show teeters towards repetition.

To the credit of Lahr (and Orton), there’s no censorship of any kind here – the idea that this is a political or philosophical point is interesting. Orton’s offensive approach to sex tourism isn’t hidden, and his misogyny, racism and arrogance throughout are uncomfortable. How much a wicked sense of humour excuses any of this is up to you.

Almost despite Orton, Diary of a Somebody is really the story of two men. Orton’s partner (and killer) Kenneth Halliwell is awarded a detailed depiction, performed here by Toby Osmond. The play’s emotional moments are effective. Osmond makes sure his character’s struggles with mental health receive more sympathy from the audience than they did from Orton.

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George Kemp, Sorcha Kennedy, Ryan Rajan Mal,Toby Osmond, Jemma Churchill and Jamie Zubairi

The couple are joined by Jemma Churchill, Sorcha Kennedy, Ryan Rajan Mal and Jamie Zubairi playing all the other characters. Marshalled efficiently by director Nico Rao Pimparé, it is the ensemble that makes the show digestible. Playing Orton and Halliwell’s neighbours is fun for both women. Delivering the brilliant letters Orton wrote under the pseudonym of Edna Welthorpe is a highlight for Churchill, and Zubairi’s Kenneth Williams is a pleasure.

“No fucking asterisks”

Maybe Orton was too honest for his own good (or, at least, for his reputation). He wanted to make sure his work and life contained “no fucking asterisks”. We can all appreciate that. But there’s a strong sense from Lahr’s work that these diaries were always meant to be seen. How suspicious does that make us? Orton never hid them from Halliwell, for a start, and the latter’s sense of being “an extra” in his former protégé’s “epic” became a tragedy for both men. Orton’s tone is often pompous, if fascinating – credit again to Kemp for ensuring a light touch to their delivery. It’s easy to admire this play and production, if not their subject.

Until 3 April 2022

www.sevendials.co.uk

Photos by Brittain Photography

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“Pass The Hat” at Stone Nest

Lots of us read -and reflected – more than usual during the Coronavirus lockdown. And many, including Oliver Bennett and Vladimir Shcherban of HUNCHtheatre, took that strange time to create (in this case) something very special. The finest of storytelling, full of humour and insight, Pass The Hat proves to be quietly profound.

The book Bennett and his director Shcherban focus on is Farewell Leicester Square, a biography by a famous busker called Harry Hollis. As you might expect, after telling us about himself as an actor, Bennett slips into the character of Hollis and the result is charming. Both Bennett and Hollis have an avuncular charisma and a sweet sense of humour. They share a love of performance for its own sake that is stirring.

The reason for Bennett’s interest in Hollis is a potential family connection. Cue some genealogical detective work (another lockdown pastime). Looking into his grandparents’ lives, there are tangents – some of them dark. It turns out the dates don’t line up. Why the family myth, and why does it matter?

Pass The Hat from HUNCH Theatre credit Valya Korabelnikova

Stories are ways to structure our lives; to “fashion some kind of order”. That this telling can be a beautiful thing, despite shadowy motives, becomes clear with Pass The Hat. Deceptively straightforward, the show uses projections, props and puppets with a light touch. And some of the simplest yet most effective lighting you could wish for. Above all there is Bennett’s performance: using every inch of this intimate space and Vera Reshto’s design, he dances and fights back and forth through history. There’s even a shipwreck!

It is very easy to watch Bennett during this hour-plus piece. That gentle humour, with phone calls interrupting the action, helps. It’s a blissful surprise to realise how caught up in these plays on memory we have been guided through. A moving finale focusing on his grandfather’s dementia enforces how fragile the tales we tell ourselves are. It is compensation that storytelling is so safe in HUNCHtheatre’s capable hands.

Until 8 April 2022

www.tickettailor.com/events/stonenest

Photos by Valya Korabelnikova

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“Tempest” at the Pleasance Theatre

You can see why the Wildcard’s gig-theatre style has its fans. There’s a raw energy to its take on Shakespeare’s Romance that has an anarchic appeal. Director and adapter James Meteyard’s show has lots of ideas, some of them interesting. But there are also lots of problems.

One strength comes with comedy. Shakespeare’s subplot of shipwrecked sailors who join with Caliban to take over the play’s island setting is seldom funny. But with plenty of ad-libs, Eleanor House’s trombone-playing Stephano and Gigi Zahir’s drag queen Trinculo are a lot of fun. Zahir’s “Shutteth the fucketh upeth” is a long way from Shakespeare – but it works. Throwing in a catwalk show is a brilliant twist.

Meanwhile, both the romance and the revenge in The Tempest get lost. Kate Littlewood’s restrained Prospero and Ruby Crepin-Glynne’s savvy Miranda feel like additions rather than central characters. Alexander Bean, so impressive as Caliban, gives a shadowy Duke Alonso. There are too many stumbles from too many of the performers. And of course, when pauses or fumbles start, the atmosphere becomes uncomfortable.

“The isle is full of noises”


The production is notable for boasting Jasmine Morris as its composer. Not so much for the few songs that are included (Meteyard’s lyrics for these are poor) but rather for the soundscape, created with plenty of invention and hugely atmospheric. Yet what should be the show’s triumph also stalls. Whether this is Daniel Balfour’s sound design or technical faults isn’t clear. But the numerous sound effects (which aid Loren O’Dair’s strong performance as Ariel) stop and start abruptly. Audibility is poor.

Meteyard and movement director Jade Hackett work hard to make sure the actor-musicians aren’t stuck with their instruments. There’s a revolving stage and even some aerial acrobatics as well as ambitious lighting from Sherry Coenen to create dynamism. But, yet again, this is uneven. Moments that impress, with a lot of thought behind them, jar with the cast wandering around. The final scenes are far too static.

That the show is too messy for me might be a matter of personal taste. But while only inspired by Shakespeare – with favourite scenes picked out – the truncated approach makes Tempest difficult to follow. The result is a niche affair that shows the original as a piece that needs balance and a play that’s surprisingly easy to wreck.

Until 3 April 2022

www.pleasance.co.uk

Photos by Lidia Crisafulli

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“Passion Fruit” at the New Diorama Theatre

Dior Clarke’s semi-autobiographical play is full of affirmation. From the start Clarke tells us his tale is a “self-love story” and characters keep positive in the face of difficult circumstances. The script, written with Stephanie Martin, suffers from self help mantras. But growing up gay on a rough estate, with an abused mother and a brother in trouble, needs determination and bravery – Passion Fruit has plenty of both.

Valid as the project of representation is – bringing new voices to the stage is important – the play isn’t innovative dramatically. The story is simple and much of the subject matter predictable, a lot of it depressingly so. There are no surprises: from a child questioning how men “should” behave, a teenager hiding his sexuality, through to the happy drama school ending. Instead, the show’s strengths come by adding energy to the story.

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Hayden Mampasi, Dior Clarke and Charlotte Gosling

First, there is Clarke himself who brings considerable presence and physicality to the stage. Clarke deals subtly with showing a five year old, a school boy and then a petulant teenager: while the character is loud, the depiction is restrained. There are moments when delivery of the lines might be clearer, and direct addresses to the audience occur too often. But the emotions aroused by his family and community are sincere. Strong comic touches are even better.

Clarke is supported by two tremendous performances. Under the tight direction of Melinda Namdar, Charlotte Gosling and Hayden Mampasi perform all the other roles and don’t put a foot wrong. Mampasi is great as an elder brother, then potential boyfriend, as well as having an excellent comic turn as a grandmother. Gosling’s performance as the mother grounds the play from the start. And she impresses as different love interests, both female and male.

Gosling joins Clarke in two of the show’s strongest moments, intimate scenes where sex is depicted with originality. A clubbing scene is another highlight, as Clarke pole dances and explains the importance of wild nights out (albeit with unbelievable sophistication for a 19 year old). The movement in the piece, directed by Kane Husbands with Mateus Daniel, is interesting throughout – fighting or flirting as well as making love, it is the movement in the show that makes it worth watching.

Until 19 March 2020

www.newdiorama.com

Photos by Cesare Di Giglio