★★★★

“The dynamics are beautifully conveyed by the actors in wonderfully genuine performances”

One of the most telling lines in Barney Norris’ adaptation of Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” is when the young bride, Georgie proclaims ‘I can’t remember what’s good about me’. The mix of fear and confusion in the eyes epitomises not just Nell Williams’ extraordinary performance, but also the nature of the play in which we are repeatedly taken aback by powerful moments of poignancy that burst through the comedic surface. It is a multi-layered piece that brings Lorca’s tragedy right up to date into a very relatable English rural setting. We are in a Wiltshire village on the edge of Salisbury Plain. A seemingly ordinary backwater peopled by everyday characters. Don’t be fooled. Alex Marker’s realistic set places the action around the back of a village hall, but we are somehow thrown into the world of folklore too.

Georgie and Rob (Christopher Neenan) are checking out the slightly run-down venue for their wedding reception. Rob’s mother, Helen (Alix Dunmore), is tagging along, anxious to convey her misgivings about the whole affair. The dynamics are beautifully conveyed by the actors in wonderfully genuine performances that match the natural flow of the dialogue. There is much humour, but small details and verbal tics hint at the darkness that is to come. Director Tricia Thorns is very in tune with the subtleties, often allowing the characters to look out to the audience yet still staying within their own world.

Neenan’s Rob is a delight. With his soft West Country accent, his instantly loveable personality has a simplicity and honesty that Williams’ gently mocking Georgie cannot resist. Nor can we as we root for this couple, despite the protestations of Helen and her severe abandonment complex. Dunmore can switch between caring mother and prophet of doom with remarkable ease while displaying the guilt of not imposing either with enough force. Enter Brian, the village hall’s caretaker. Initially hilarious, his role develops into that of the all-seeing sage. A remarkable performance from David Fielder that shifts into the surreal as he takes on the spiritual symbolism of Lorca’s original text, leading us dramatically towards the bloody and disturbing climax.

But before we get there, we meet Georgie’s old schoolfriend, Danni (Esme Lonsdale) and her bad-boy, Irish traveller husband Lee (Kiefer Moriarty). Lee is Georgie’s ex, and because he reappears on the day of Georgie’s wedding, we can’t help but get a sense of what is coming, whether we are familiar with Lorca’s play or not. Lonsdale gives a real strength to Danni, ably standing up to Moriarty’s slightly unconvincing menace. One of the few inconsistencies of the piece comes with the nagging disbelief that Georgie would be prepared to flee her own wedding and run off with Lee.

Fielder’s Brian tells us that ‘there is more to me than meets the eye’. A statement that can describe this play. The powerful shift in mood and style in the second act could easily have jarred, but in the hands of this talented company it is impressive, and Fielder comes to the fore with a commanding potency. The tears he has in his eyes towards the end seem genuine, and we are impelled to join him. The final epilogue, set a year after the events, is in danger of unnecessarily dragging out the ending, but it neatly sews up of the threads of the story. A tale of the fears and dreams, not just of the newly wed protagonists, but of all of us. Barney Norris has said that he wanted to build a new kind of mythology with this adaptation, particularly to the part of England where he has set the narrative. On that level he succeeds, but his play also has the gift to entertain which, in turn, is a real gift for the audience.

SECOND BEST

Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Butterfield navigates the journey with a fearless and faultless performance”

Much has been made in the media recently of Asa Butterfield’s stage debut. In interviews he has said that theatre “has always terrified” him. We get the impression that this is genuine, rather than a false modesty. Having made his name in “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” at the age of ten, he went on to play the lead in Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo”, before his major break in the Netflix series, “Sex Education”. Yet he is sufficiently aware that standing in front of a live audience is a completely different ballgame. Especially when you are the only one on stage for the whole hour and a half. Any fears we (or Butterfield for that matter) may have had about this inaugural performance are instantly driven away. “Second Best” is a wonderfully stylised, one-man, one-act play by Barney Norris in which Butterfield commands the stage with a natural comfort and ease, and a sparkling charisma that keeps us hanging on his every word.

Adapted from David Foenkinos’ French novel (translated by Megan Jones), it tells the story of Martin – the (fictionalised) boy who lost out to Daniel Radcliffe on being cast as Harry Potter in the film franchise. Although a specific narrative, it is immediately relatable. Who hasn’t wondered what might have happened if things had turned out differently? That ‘different life I once almost had’ as Butterfield’s character states. That is the crux of the piece. Quite a simple premise, but it is wrapped in layers that are peeled away by Butterfield as he paces the stage, making sharp turns through Martin’s backstory in a seemingly haphazard fashion.

As we enter the auditorium, Butterfield is already there. A lone figure in black, strikingly prominent against the stark white backdrop. Fly Davis’ set is initially a puzzle. A damaged corner-shop rack of crisps, a camera tripod, television set, large packing crate, empty picture frames and a hospital bed high up on the wall. Martin sets the scene. We begin in the present, in a hospital waiting for the results of his and his partner’s three-month scan. But Martin’s mind cannot focus on the image of his child-to-be. Instead, it is being dragged back to into his past – a life of things he didn’t do. A sometimes-traumatic journey. Honest and brutal yet funny and sympathetic as Martin pieces himself back together again. Non sequiturs are strategically placed throughout the script, teasing us until their meaning smacks with a startling clarity. Michael Longhurst’s skilful direction makes inspired use of the props and set pieces, and all the while Butterfield navigates the journey with a fearless and faultless performance.

The narrative is, in fact, more about Martin’s relationship with his mother and, particularly, his father. A stepfather casts a dark shadow too. We follow Martin from school, through to his early film auditions. We commute with him from England to France and back after his parents’ divorce. A vertigo inducing scene takes us into hospital where he was briefly sectioned. And eventually to the party where he met the love of his life – and his saviour. All with stroboscopic shifts from the dark to the light. And never before have tuna sandwiches carried such tear-jerking poignancy. As the conclusion approaches, we do get a whiff of self-help therapy. In Martin’s words, it is ‘not the story of how I came second, but the story of how someone put me first’. But in Butterfield’s hands we are spared any trace of sentimentality. What he replaces it with is tenderness.

In real life, Butterfield narrowly missed out on being cast as the new Spiderman in 2015. The part went to Tom Holland. But he is philosophical about it and has no regrets. Had his story played out differently, though, he might not be here on the stage as his fictional counterpart, Martin – which, for us, would be a big regret. “Second Best” shows us that ‘the other’ life might not be as glittering as it looks. There’s plenty to think about, but what doesn’t need much contemplation is that this sharply insightful play is rendered a must see by Asa Butterfield’s bold and brilliant performance.

BLOOD WEDDING

Omnibus Theatre

★★★★

“The dynamics are beautifully conveyed by the actors in wonderfully genuine performances”

BLOOD WEDDING

Omnibus Theatre

Reviewed on 2nd May 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Phil Gammon

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BLOOD WEDDING

BLOOD WEDDING

BLOOD WEDDING

SECOND BEST

Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Butterfield navigates the journey with a fearless and faultless performance”

SECOND BEST

Riverside Studios

Reviewed on 3rd February 20245

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Hugo Glendinning

Previously reviewed at this venue:

SECOND BEST

SECOND BEST

SECOND BEST

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