SAPPHO at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★

“Wendy Beckett’s script is uncertain and seems not to trust itself.”

Georgie Fellows shines as Sappho in an otherwise uncertain muddle of a play.

The story is set in an alternative history, circa 600 BC. It follows the imagined life of Sappho, the Ancient Greek poet, whose real life we know little about. In this play Sappho is engaged to be married, a marriage of convenience to further her parents’ political ambitions. However she is in love with a woman, not the man she is marrying.

While the premise seems simple enough, it is complicated by convoluted sub-plots about her parents’ politics. They want to spread democracy across the land. Since it’s neither historically accurate, nor particularly clear in the play, this becomes a political drama with no context. The broad strokes commentary against the elite falls flat.

This points to the bigger issue with this play, which is that it doesn’t know what it is. The tone is a mishmash of campy asides and panto acting, with boppy dance numbers and earnest calls to arms. Every chance at emotional depth is undermined by jokey asides, but it’s not quite funny enough to make that worth it.

Wendy Beckett’s script is uncertain and seems not to trust itself. The simple love story at the heart of this play, is nice, and it would’ve been stronger had it stripped back the tangled layers around it.

Wendy Beckett co-directs with Adam Fitzgerald and again this uncertainty comes through. Every performer seems to be in a different play and every scene is a different tone. There is a Greek chorus, which at times are used for beautiful discordant singing and moments of dance (well-choreographed by Fotis Diamantopoulos) but in many scenes confuse and crowd the stage.

The performances are broadly strong, if uneven tonally. Emmanuel Akwafo is a strong comic narrator, though sometimes his asides become a little repetitive. However the show stealer is Georgie Fellows as Sappho, who manages to ride the tonal rollercoaster of this play, and carries its emotional heart, such as it is.

Adam King’s lighting stands out in a moment where the stage in bathed in rainbow light, in what should’ve been a moving commentary about Sappho’s legacy. Halcyon Pratt’s set is simple and versatile, if not particularly memorable.

Mehdi Bourayou’s sound design and score provide boppy pop style numbers and more traditional Greek chorus songs, many of which are really fun. It would’ve been great to have more music in this, as it might have hung it together more fluidly.

Sappho’s importance not only as a poet but as a queer poet is unquestionable, and her poetry speaks through the ages. This play hasn’t quite decided how to tell her story – should it be a campy and fun musical or a hard-hitting political drama. By not making that decision, the play is neither satisfying as a comedy nor a political biopic.

SAPPHO at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 8th May 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues

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Sappho

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★★★

“It’s an astonishing performance from Campbell, and Snell’s tracks complement it well”

This intense and intimate reimagining of Kieran Hurley’s 2012 play captures the appeal and vibe of ‘90s rave culture, while missing what makes it interesting now.

The concept of Beats is unusual – it’s a one man performance, by producer/director/performer Ned Campbell but is accompanied throughout by a live on-stage DJ (Tom Snell). The line between play, performance and gig is ripe to be blurred and played with. But the DJ fades increasingly into the background and is used more to build atmosphere.

The plot is simple. In suburban Scotland in 1994 Johnno McCreadie goes to his first rave, while his mother wrings her hands at home and a police officer battles with the wider political effects of his job.

There is a mesmeric quality to the lyrical prose mixed with the thudding, repetitive tracks. At times this bubbles the audience in with the performer, both caught up in the high of the music. Often though the mood is somnambulant, lulled into drowsiness by the rhythm of the piece.

Campbell effortlessly slips between multiple characters, often mid sentence. His startling grotesques are clear and well-realised. The piece is carefully calculated by him and co-Director Eloïse Poulton to make these character shifts stark and dramatic.

Hurley’s script does pose some provocative questions about rave culture and the dire effects of Thatcherism on these small Scottish communities. But all it succeeds in doing is nodding to the politics, hinting at something more interesting beyond the fairly predictable plot that is presented.

Alex Lewer’s lighting design is superb, and probably my favourite thing about this play. Slick character transitions are punctuated by lighting shifts and the rave comes alive with a smattering of colour and motion in the lights.

It’s an astonishing performance from Campbell, and Snell’s tracks complement it well. But the play itself lacks enough intrigue to remain compelling.

SAPPHO at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★

“Wendy Beckett’s script is uncertain and seems not to trust itself.”

SAPPHO at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 8th May 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues

Sappho

Sappho

BEATS at the King’s Head Theatre

★★★

“It’s an astonishing performance from Campbell, and Snell’s tracks complement it well”

BEATS at the King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed on 19th April 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Josh McClure

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BEATS

BEATS