Tag Archives: Shvorne Marks

“Beautiful Thing” at the Theatre Royal Stratford East

There is a reverential air to Anthony Simpson-Pike’s revival of Jonathan Harvey’s coming-of-age story. As a celebration of the play’s 30th anniversary, this much-loved piece is determined to please fans… and it succeeds. The romance between young neighbours Ste and Jamie has more optimism and fun than ever, so relax and enjoy.

Simpson-Pike and his cast provide studied performances that are carefully restrained. Raphael Akuwudike and Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran take the lead roles and make a suitably sweet on-stage couple. That both boys are bullied is in the background, with little time taken over potential trauma. Ste’s home life, in particular, seems glossed over, with little sense of threat from how his violent father might react to his sexuality.

Other roles come close to stealing the show. Shvorne Marks plays Jamie’s mother, Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge her boyfriend, and Scarlett Rayner is Leah, who lives next door. All three have excellent comic skills and appreciate that, while Harvey’s characters are larger than life they are not caricatures. The women, both well-written roles, make every eye roll or insult count. It’s all hugely entertaining.

Since most audience members know most of the jokes, the evening has a nostalgic feel. Of course, it is nice that people are no longer shocked by two schoolboys in love (they are all over Netflix, nowadays). But it is tempting to wonder whether updates might have been made. The characters are normally cast as white, and Simpson-Pike has changed this, but I only spotted one reference to the alteration and surely more might have been done?

Instead, there’s an air of celebration and an admirable emphasis on openness that is cleverly brought to life by Rosie Elnile’s fine design. The communal nature of the housing estate setting would warm a 1960s architect’s heart. Having the boys’ bed come out onto the flat’s balcony is a nice, suggestive, touch. And the production’s finale, where Elnile delivers a neat surprise, reminds us how stirring Beautiful Thing is and ensures everyone leaves the theatre happy.

Until 7 October 2023

www.stratfordeast.com

Photo by The Other Richard

“a profoundly affectionate, passionate devotion to someone (-noun)”

AT THE ROYAL COURT


The subject matter for debbie tucker green’s new play may be romantic love, but there’s very little in it. Five brilliant actors play three couples, and the audience becomes privy to (mostly) their arguments. It could be dull, but is transformed by an ability with language that’s phenomenal. More like a poem than a play, its remarkably recognisable everyday voices are combined with startling musicality.


Language isn’t the first thing that strikes us, though. Working with designer Merle Hensel, the seating consists of swivel stools in the centre of the space, with a raised stage on three sides. Performers draw on green floor-to-ceiling chalkboards. Any connection between their scrawls and communication isn’t elaborated. A more immediate connotation is a tennis match, as words start to fly and feelings that should be left unsaid are spoken out loud.


The majority of the play is spent with a young couple, called A and B, with back and forth scenes of tension in their disintegrating relationship, blissfully interspaced with glimpses of joy and sensuality. With such variety in emotions, actors Gershwyn Eustache Jnr and Lashana Lynch deserve the highest acclaim. Fights, trivial and important, as the post-mortem of their marriage is picked over, have a disturbing rawness. The inventive structure moves perspectives, continually searching the past and examining lost potential.


There are two further scenes, showing an older couple, Woman and Man, played by Meera Syal and Gary Beadle, then Man’s new relationship with Younger Woman, played by Shvorne Marks. The acting is again superb, but these stories feel truncated, the characters less fleshed out and parallels forced. Giving them so little time is one of the smaller puzzles here – so many questions are raised that the play will not satisfy all audience tastes.


The annoying lower-case title alludes to defining something. One way of doing that is to remove specifics, making the dialogues a questioning of Form (no escaping a capital letter here). tucker green certainly provides few particulars. But a warning – trying to work out ‘what’s going on’ is ingrained, and having so little to work with can be frustrating in a play. The trick instead might be to focus on the theme of communication. The characters are said to either talk too much or too little. And their ‘look’ – a fruitfully theatrical element brought to the fore with the author working as director, aided by such a strong cast – shows there is more to a conversation than words. Aiming for a definition on love inevitably falls short. But the attempt at elucidation here still has many pleasures.


Until 1 April 2017


www.royalcourttheatre.com


Photo by Stephen Cummiskey