THE HARDER THEY COME

Stratford East

★★★★★

“bursts with joy while delivering serious social commentary”

After its 2025 sell out triumph, ‘The Harder They Come’ roars back onto the stage. Based on Perry Henzell and Trevor Rhone’s cult classic film – credited with bringing reggae to the world – this musical revival bursts with life, rhythm and resistance.

Ivan, a poor singer from the country, hits Kingston ready for the big time. But his stubborn optimism is no match for rampant corruption, which soon sees him topping the charts and the most wanted list. Can he win his fight against injustice, and who’ll get caught in the crossfire?

Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ fizzes with life, rich with Jamaican Patois and the cadences of 1970s Kingston. It slices through the capitalist fantasy, charting Ivan’s shift from dreamer to rebel with razor sharp humour. Elsa’s expanded role shines, giving her much more agency as she mirrors Ivan’s growing distrust of authority – though some supporting characters feel a little under drawn. Ultimately Ivan’s tragic arc exposes a broken system, giving the story a bite that speaks to ongoing Black experiences today.

Musical icon Jimmy Cliff’s classics and Park’s new numbers soak the show in Jamaican soul, with Ashton Moore and Benjamin Kwasi Burrell’s supervision, orchestration and arrangements weaving reggae hits seamlessly into the story. The score lifts the room, with sharp musical tension at key moments. The titular song smartly signals Ivan’s rise and fall. The absolutely knockout ‘Many Rivers To Cross’ earns a mid show ovation. Act 2 feels lighter on songs, but Luke Bacchus and the onstage band keep the musical heartbeat strong throughout.

Olivier award winning Matthew Xia’s direction, with associate Emily Aboud, crackles with pace and confidence, charting Ivan’s corruption with believable clarity before accelerating into the climax. The humour lands sharply, with bold physical theatre and an outrageous fantasy sequence. That said, Xia still nails the serious beats when needed, delivering an audience winning balance.

Choreography by Shelley Maxwell, with Associate Neisha-yen Jones, brings sassy sharpness to every beat. The tonal range is impressive – from playful swagger, to bold fantasy, to a defiant showdown with authority. A beautiful and vibrant celebration of Jamaican and Afro diasporic movement.

Simon Kenny’s set design delivers slick transitions and a surprising range of locations, with Ivan’s rise and fall neatly echoed by a central platform. Jessica Cabassa’s costumes cleverly chart Ivan’s notoriety and mark class divides. Ciarán Cunningham’s lighting blends realism with bold pops of colour. Tony Gayle’s live sound brings a rich bassy resonance, though occasionally overpowers the lyrics, and Nicola T. Chang’s soundscape, with David Beckham’s support, vividly place us in each setting. Gino Ricardo Green’s video smartly nods to the cult film, and Dominique Hamilton’s wigs and makeup are beautifully realised.

Natey Jones returns as Ivan, firing up the stage with stunning vocals and a gripping descent that keeps our empathy intact. Madeline Charlemagne returns as Elsa – a role shared with Chanice Alexander-Burnett – bringing emotional grounding and soaring vocals to her own sharp awakening. Rachel John takes on Daisy, stealing the show with gut wrenching vocals and commanding the stage in this relatively small role. Daniel Bailey’s José shifts smoothly from playful swagger to steely edge. Ashley Samuels nails the Preacher’s comic bite and simmering menace, while Thomas Vernal’s Hilton blends velvet vocals with real danger. The whole cast earns their mid show standing ovation for a blistering ‘Many Rivers To Cross’ – everyone absolutely lets rip and it’s utterly glorious.

‘The Harder They Come’ bursts with joy while delivering serious social commentary. If you missed it first time around, run and grab tickets while you can!

THE HARDER THEY COME

Stratford East

Reviewed on 21st May 2026

by Hannah Bothelton

Photography by Pamela Raith

THE HARDER THEY COME

★★★★★

“Davison’s performance is a tour-de-force”

The Poltergeist, by award-winning playwright Philip Ridley, is an extraordinary piece of storytelling which will haunt you long after you leave the theatre. Strap yourself in for this is a rollercoaster of a ride. Lone actor, Louis Davison, plays all the characters, including the protagonist Sasha – a former art world prodigy – at breakneck speed.

In the world of the play, Sasha has fallen from his former artistic fame and glory and now shares a flat with his boyfriend Chet in the East End of London. It is here that he battles addiction, paranoia and navigates dysfunctional family dynamics. Having been something of a one-hit wonder as a teenager, he is now tortured by an agonising sense of artistic failure. But is any of this truly justified in a surface level, social media-driven, celebrity obsessed art world? The mercenary, superficial nature of modern-day art culture is exposed to great comic effect in the scene where Davison continually switches between playing Sasha and a female American art dealer/promoter out on the prowl for artistic young blood to help line her own pocket.

Davison’s performance is a tour-de-force. The vocal and physical speed, energy and vigour with which he shifts between six different characters, is a feat to behold. The fine craft of an actor at the height of his game is on full display here. Much credit too must go to the director, Wiebke Green. The general tempo of this piece may feel unrelentingly fast – perhaps too much for some – but this is something that is clearly reflected in the ‘in-yer-face’ nature of the script and the rhythm of the writing. Green does not shy away from doing it justice and ramps it up to the ninth degree (there are few dramatic pauses or silences in this work); this helps to charge the juxtaposed slower paced, more tender later scenes in the play with even more emotional resonance. Also, the creative decision to completely strip back and do without any set or props works well and makes for a more raw and powerful audience experience.

Social conventions and etiquette are frequently juxtaposed with Sasha’s dark sense of wit and his deeper search for honesty and truth. Of his niece’s birthday party, Sasha wittily says, ‘This is where Hieronymus Bosh meets the Barbie doll.’ Ironically, it is at his niece’s birthday party where Sasha eventually experiences an emotional healing of sorts at the end of his long and tortuous journey. ‘The surface is waterlilies but underneath it’s all sharks and formaldehyde’ is another stand out line in this play. Clearly this is an artistic reference to Monet and Damien Hirst but it’s also a metaphor for the disturbing truths that lie underneath a façade of superficial, social niceties in many families.

This is a play about memories and the haunting nature of past choices. But at its emotional core, it is a play about grief. Ridley’s trademark darkly comic tone is evident through much of the storytelling but as the narrative propels us towards the final scenes, there is a note-perfect beautiful tenderness that is haunting in and of itself.

Tag Archives: Ciaran Cunningham

THE HARDER THEY COME

★★★★★

Stratford East

THE HARDER THEY COME

Stratford East

★★★★★

“bursts with joy while delivering serious social commentary”