★★★

“this show reminds us how true connection can come in many forms”

Longing, vulnerability, alienation, second chances. As time passes, we are forced to take a look at our lives and reflect on the people we’ve lost, our career, who we are. Simon Stephens’ play Heisenberg, through a touching story of finding connection when you least expect it, captures the whole spectrum of human interaction, giving us poignant language along with witty banter.

Alex (Jenny Galloway), a 75-year old woman, receives an unexpected kiss on the neck from Georgie (Faline England), a bubbly American who can’t stop swearing. They start talking, or to be more accurate Georgie starts talking, firstly about herself and then trying to figure out Alex’s character by bombarding her with questions and assumptions, while Alex wants to find a way out of this conversation. A few days later, Georgie shows up at Alex’s shop and before long, a peculiar connection has formed which brings chaotic Georgie and quiet Alex closer and closer. Till Georgie asks for a favour that makes Alex question whether it’s all been fabricated or genuine.

Heisenberg is a production that creeps up on you. Awkwardness and wariness give way to authentic moments of vulnerable melancholy, side by side with hilarious one-liners. Light and dark come together in a blend that is familiar if you know Stephens’ work and writing style. The way director Katharine Farmer has handled the text, interchanging between letting the text lead the way, like a beautiful literary interval, and letting the characters shine through, is very interesting. Of course we need to appreciate the words, savour them, pay attention to them, but in a piece of theatre, the live spontaneity and action of the characters should be the focus, even in moments of wordy pondering or reminiscing. That would also help with the pacing, which feels like it’s dragging at times, the sharpness of the smart comebacks and comedic lines often suffering because of that.

The contrast between the two characters is distinct, created by two skilful and obviously experienced actors. Changing Alex’s sex from man to woman is a choice that alters the dynamic between Alex and Georgie and the impact the play has on the audience. The relationship between our two characters feels more tender, more equal, more focused on companionship. On the other hand, there is a general lack of spark and intrigue. It’s like sailing steadily in very calm waters, without any sort of fluctuation of the waves or the weather to make things more interesting and add a level of risk. Overall, it’s a choice that provides a new perspective onto the relationship, but not in a particularly successful way in the long run of the play.

Lighting designer Rajiv Pattani did not hold back and really stressed the journey’s turning points and mood changes smoothly and skilfully. Moreover, lighting assisted with the lack of any actual set, filling a stage that was left plainly bare (except for two chairs). Sound design (Hugh Sheehan) also came to the rescue, giving us clear locations by providing background noise when necessary. It’s quite an intimate stage, but still it’d be interesting to see the kind of set experimentation that could emerge to surround the actors.

Alex shares how the older she gets, the more she realises how brief life really is. And this show reminds us how true connection can come in many forms, even between people who seem like they have nothing in common. Heisenberg deals with themes that are universal and makes the passing of time, the briefness and vastness of life, feel a little less lonely.

CRY-BABY, THE MUSICAL

Arcola Theatre

★★★★★

“Feel-good is the understatement of the year where this show is concerned”

‘It’s a beautiful day for an anti-polio picnic’. So begins the new all-singing, all-dancing “Cry-Baby, The Musical”. This is no surprise if you are armed with the knowledge that the musical is based on the transgressive filmmaker John Waters’ 1990 film. Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan have written the book, with David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger providing the songs. Directed by the Arcola Theatre’s artistic director, Mehmet Ergen, it bursts onto the London stage with an effervescent eccentricity that Waters would be proud of with all his screwball heart.

A couple of words of advice. Leave your expectations at home, along with any judgements, preconceptions or theatrical snobbery. Don’t read the programme notes – the ones that allude to the show dealing with issues of class-based injustices, political relevance, privilege, demonisation… blah blah blah. It really isn’t that deep. Yes, they’re all in there somewhere, cleverly hidden in hilarious, blink-and-you-miss one-liners, but the trick is to just wallow in the whole explosion of joy that this show bombards you with. The story is as shallow as they come. A kind of ‘Grease’ meets ‘Jailhouse Rock’ – but better than both put together. It is 1954. Communism is the big taboo. Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker is the coolest kid in town. He’s a rebel with a cause. A bad guy – though we kind of twig pretty quickly that he’s not really. Allison is the strait-laced rich girl who crosses to the wrong side of the tracks, drawn to his irresistible flame. Forbidden love and teen rebellion run rife while society moral values are turned upside down.

Adam Davidson plays the eponymous ‘Cry-Baby’. His name derives from the fact that he hasn’t cried since his parents died and he was orphaned at a young age (we learn the circumstances of his mum and dad’s tragic demise later). He is the leader of the ‘Drapes’, a misfit crew of baddies with whom the ‘Squares’ (to which Lulu-Mae Pears’ clean-cut Allison belongs) are in awe of, yet fear, in equal measure. Allison has been brought up by her grandmother, the (seemingly) upright Mrs Cordelia Vernon-Williams (Shirley Jameson). Surrounded by a magnificent kaleidoscope of colourful characters, all performed by an even more magnificent cast, the narrative roller-coasts through picnics, self-awareness days, song contests, arson attacks, prison, escape, freedom, atonement, justice, hard-won-love… right up to its preposterously upbeat finale. All the while our smiles get wider and wider, the laughs get stronger, and our toe-tapping turns into all-out body shaking. Feel-good is the understatement of the year where this show is concerned.

The score must have been one of the easiest to write. There’s irony in that statement, but a snippet of truth too. The entire set list is pure pastiche. The chord structures have been handed to Javerbaum and Schlesinger on a plate. Each song is instantly recognisable, yet bizarrely unique. It’s the lyrics that can take the credit – insanely clever, witty and poignant. The writers are masters of rhyming and scanning, and the performers deliver faultlessly. We are transported back to the fifties with the genre defining songs: the close-knit harmonies of ‘Squeaky Clean’, or the rockabilly rhythms of ‘Jukebox Jamboree’. Ballads such as ‘Misery’ and ‘I’m Infected’ tug at our teenage heartstrings and rekindle the memories of our misspent teenage years. The bar is high, but there still manage to be highlights. Shirley Jameson’s ‘Did Something Wrong Once’ threatens to bring the house down, as does Chad Saint Louis (who plays bad boy Dupree) every time he opens his mouth, and lungs. Davidson and Pears smash every number they sing. The ensemble players are, without exception, exceptional. Eleanor Walsh, in particular, as Lenora Frigid (don’t blame me – I didn’t name the characters), whose solo number ‘Screw Loose’ defines her perfectly. Bonkers? Yes! Virtuosic? Without doubt! And how can you fail to enjoy a musical that includes song titles such as ‘Girl Can I Kiss You with Tongues?’ Forget the phrase ‘from the sublime to the ridiculous’. This show combines the too. Ridiculous? Yes! Sublime? Without a doubt!

You don’t need a big stage to create a spectacle. Chris Whittaker’s choreography shifts the walls outwards, playing with scale and creating deceptively big routines. Meticulously period yet innovative, it encapsulates the show’s energy and sense of fun. Shades of Jerome Robbins in no way eclipse Whittaker’s own individuality. Like every element of the show, familiarity and peculiarity dance side by side.

The finale number – a rousing ‘Nothing Bad’ – sums it up. “Cry-Baby, The Musical” is two hours of star-spangled fun. You’d be a cry-baby to miss it (I know…!). All I can say is ‘be there… or be square’.

HEISENBERG

Arcola Theatre

★★★

“this show reminds us how true connection can come in many forms”

HEISENBERG

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 14th April 2025

by Stephanie Christodoulidou

Photography by Charlie Flint

Previously reviewed at this venue:

HEISENBERG

HEISENBERG

HEISENBERG

CRY-BABY, THE MUSICAL

Arcola Theatre

★★★★★

“Feel-good is the understatement of the year where this show is concerned”