Tag Archives: Paul Hickey

“Brokeback Mountain” at the Soho Place Theatre

Annie Proulx’s short story is about atmosphere rather than action. The troubled love affair between cowboys Ennis and Jack is a powerful tale of repression and loss, but part of what makes it special is that not that much really happens. Bringing the story to the stage is a tough call that Ashley Robinson’s adaptation and Jonathan Butterell’s direction handle intelligently. It is a shame that the results are mixed.

Butterell has secured fine performances from the show’s exciting casting. Here are two West End stage debuts to take note of. Stars from the States, Mike Faist and Lucas Hedges, are strong as Jack and Ennis respectively. Hedges makes the taciturn Ennis a strong figure whose torment over his sexuality bubbles under the surface. Faist’s Jack is charismatic, full of energy and humour, but the audience can still see his pain. As for that all-important chemistry, Butterell takes advantage of the venue’s intimacy to create quiet, moving moments.

Despite the enjoyable performances, with Faist and Hedges easily holding the stage and showing impressive confidence, the pace overall feels regrettably rushed. A sense of time passing and opportunities lost isn’t conveyed and the show comes close to being cold. Jack’s statement that “we could have had a good life together” comes as something of a shock – it seems we are near the end of the show too soon. The meditative quality of the source material is lost.

There is little sense of menace in the piece. The men’s employer is aware of the affair and simply disapproves, while in the final scene Jack’s mother seems sympathetic. As part of a lack of threat, Jack’s wife is reduced to a slim figure (despite Emily Fairn’s commendable efforts in the role). It becomes hard to remember the risks being run by the couple’s romantic getaways and why the two cannot live together. Meanwhile, there is the device of an ‘older’ Ennis watching the action. It’s not a bad idea, and adds some melancholy moments, but having him continually on stage means that the role blends into the background, despite Paul Hickey’s commitment.

Eddie Reader in Brokeback Mountain
Eddi Reader

Firmer ground come with the show’s most innovative move – the music. Described as a play with songs, rather than a musical, it’s the compositions by Dan Gillespie Sells that add most to seeing the story on stage. Eddi Reader performs with an excellent band – it all sounds wonderful. What we hear, with the aid of Christopher Shutt’s impressive sound design, provides romance, tension, humour and, above all, atmosphere. The pace that the show needs is clearest here – more music might have led to more emotion.

Until 12 August 2023

www.sohoplace.org

Photo by Manuel Harlan

“Incognito” at the Bush Theatre

This is it. Nick Payne’s play Incognito, which opened in London last night at the Bush Theatre, is the kind of exciting new play you wait a long time for. Theatrically bold, startlingly intelligent, full of insight and wit, there’s a palpable sense that this is an important piece.

The play interweaves three compelling stories: a man without long-term memory is observed over time by researchers; a scientist steals Einstein’s brain for research in 1955; and a neuropsychologist has a life-changing love affair in the present day. Incognito is an exploration into the science of the mind and the philosophy of the self: the ‘stuff’ that makes us who we are. Intellectually curious and full of big themes, it is also lively and entertaining.

There’s common ground with Payne’s previous award-winning play, Constellations. The different paths lives take sounds a continuous bass note. But Incognito explores fertile philosophical questions more explicitly and engages with science more forcefully. Father figures are used in a thought-provoking manner to examine the contribution heritage and history make to our identity. And, wait, there are great laughs too. As with David Hume, whom I suspect Payne admires, there’s an earthiness that develops into a rich humour. This serious play is also very funny.

For all the jokes, Incognito is a demanding work, but there’s a deserved sense of confidence from the terrific writing. Payne’s ability to form connections between the many characters so quickly is unerring. The switch from pathos to a great gag is like lightning, and having the characters and themes “come together and move away” is as exciting as a thriller. Director Joe Murphy builds a breathtaking rhythm, carrying (and crediting) the audience as the scenes become less naturalistic in casting and speedier in transition. Incognito is wonderfully crafted and hugely exciting.

This is a challenging play for performers and the cast’s achievement will amaze. Four performers share 21 characters, differentiating mostly with accents as the stories move geographically and through the decades. Paul Hickey transforms himself remarkably, Alison O’Donnell and Sargon Yelda show tremendous comic skills and Amelia Lowdel is spectacular in every scene. This is riveting stuff that deals well with powerful emotions and piercing questions. One for the heart and the head, it’ll have your synapses snapping, and will hang around your hippocampus long after you leave the theatre. Five stars. See it.

Until 21 June 2014

www.bushtheatre.co.uk

Photo by Bill Knight

Written 16 May 2014 for The London Magazine

“The Last Yankee” at The Print Room

The Print Room has produced another quality show with a revival of Arthur Miller’s The Last Yankee. Casting the spotlight on a pair of husbands visiting their wives in a mental hospital, this short play combines the stories of two very different marriages with a social commentary on the American dream. The production, combining the young talent of director Cathal Cleary and an experienced cast, delivers a great deal in just over an hour.

LastYankee Matilda Zielger (Patricia Hamilton) and Kika Markham (Karen Frick) credit Ellie Kurttz133
Matilda Zielger and Kika Markham

The performances are ones to relish. Paul Hickey has the strongest part as the carpenter descendant of a founding father, generating sympathy for a proud working man whose efforts to make ends meet frustrate his wife Patricia (captivatingly played by Matilda Ziegler). Their fellow New Englanders are self-made Frick and reclusive Karen, who seem to have it all. Andy De La Tour and Kika Markham make a fantastic team in these roles, forming the play’s emotional backbone as an elderly couple facing frightening problems.

Miller’s idea that money and status have become too damagingly connected is forcefully written and respectfully presented. Arguably, too much has happened in America in the 20 years since the play was penned for these concerns to overly interest an audience in Notting Hill in 2013. But even when Miller’s allegory pushes against credibility (in particular the suggestion that Patricia is punishing her husband by having a break down), human drama is to the fore. The performances focus attention on the pain of mental illness and there are heart-rending moments that make it easy to recommend this show.

Until 5 October 2013

www.the-print-room.org

Photos by Ellie Kurttz

Written 16 September 2013 for The London Magazine