★★★★

“a beautifully told love story”

Firebird by Richard Hough tells the story of Sergey Fetisov during the 1970s in occupied Estonia, and how he fell in love with fighter pilot Roman Matvejev. Due to homophobic attitudes in the soviet regime – still present today – they’re ability to keep their love secret is challenging and ends up splitting Roman and Sergey’s life into pieces.

Hough succeeds in adapting the previously made screenplay of the same name of this story into a well crafted and succinct 90 minute stage play. The pacing of the action is good and doesn’t linger on any unnecessary details. Immediately introducing the three central characters via a play boxing fight before a radio recording of the news at the time, established both the key points of the characters’ relationship dynamics, as well as the context of the time period. Despite the play being based on Sergey’s memoir; Roman was framed as the central character – depicting how he was likely central to Sergey’s life. Roman follows Sergey through his life throughout the story, but it is always Roman who leads the way. Robert Eades plays Roman with an incredible sense of optimism wrapped around a straight backed matter-of-fact and blunt approach. This contrasts with Theo Walker’s Sergey, who is often nervous and confused, yet innately curious and controversial. I did find I often struggled to see romantic or sexual chemistry from the pair. The initial kiss felt stiff and out of nowhere due to not seeing any flirting or hints to their attraction previously. In the end, however, their love is believable and creates some wonderfully touching moments.

Another key component in Roman’s wild affairs is Luisa Jannsen, played by Sorcha Kennedy. Kennedy is incredibly engaging in her performance, I was often drawn closely to her eyes and found a whole world of truth and emotion deep within them. Nigel Hastings also stands out as Colonel Alexei Kuznestov, with excellent focus, poignant intention and a flare with the rhythm of the text. All are complemented by Owen Lewis’ direction which manages to make an intimate staging feel massive with an incredible use of space, that manages to glide through different locations and times with ease. Clancy Flynn’s lighting design must also be praised at this point, often fading between warm or cool tones to indicate different locations based on their atmospheric tone. There was also one sequence where various colourful lights were used to portray fireworks, which then quickly transitioned to an explosion. A subtle yet effective portrayal of the events moving forward. The same can be said of Gregor Donnelly’s design, with the use of a simple set that leaves the stage pretty much bare asides a few pieces of furniture: two stage-like wooden blocks, a few chairs, a desk. All of which are transported throughout the piece as and when needed, achieving the same goal of making the intimate staging feel larger than it is.

Overall, Firebird is a beautifully told love story that shows how happiness can be found in human connection in spite of all the challenges put against it.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MARTIN LUTHER KING

Golden Goose Theatre

★★★

“Adrian Decosta plays a stellar Martin Luther King”

The Life and Death of Martin Luther King by Paul Stebbings feels like an epic play forced into an intimate space. As the title suggests, it follows Martin Luther King’s life, from his first speech to lead and inspire the civil rights movement in Alabama. Overall, the play succeeds in telling King’s story – as much as can be covered in 90 minutes – but it suffers from the confines of its space and consequently questionable directing choices.

The play opens in silence with singular actor Toara Bankole entering the stage to sing. This was the start of a pattern of blocking which did not consider the full thrust staging. Throughout the show, I was purely witnessing the back of actors and had barely any moments to indulge in their faces and emotions. Two thirds of the audience were isolated from the action, in spite of being so close to the actual stage. The Golden Goose is very intimate and manages to hold a lot of the sound in the space. As a result it felt like the performers were shouting. Naturally, the play’s content gives way to the kind of vocal projection fit for outdoor crowds of hundreds. But even the scenes where this wasn’t the case, it felt like the actors were told to over project and this generally made the viewing experience uncomfortable. There was also one moment in the play where real metal chains were used in a movement sequence. The chains were repeatedly thrown around and dropped on the floor. The highly irritating, loud noise of these chains made the room wince, removing any awe inspiring effect intended.

From what I could see, the acting performances were pretty solid. Toara Bankole carries the show throughout. Formally only credited as Coretta King and Rosa Parks, she actually multi roles as an incredible number of characters – and she has at least six different dresses and costume changes to show for it. Her performances are subtle and touching, letting the audience into the life of her characters safely – fitting the intimate setting. Adrian Decosta (also the director) plays a stellar Martin Luther King, down to his voice emulating King accurately. It’s very hard to direct a play you’re also in, let alone starring in where you’re practically in every scene. The reason being, you don’t know how you actually look or sound on stage and can lack objectivity.

One of the biggest themes is of course race and racism. This can be a tricky subject but can – and should – be talked about well in theatre, when done with care. To portray the racist attitudes of people at the time, with a majority black cast, the actors wore white masks to portray white people. I thought this was clever, and an easy way for the cast to multi-role without difficulty. However, there were points when the one white actor in the cast wore a black mask to portray a black person. Simply due to the connotations, this did make me feel uncomfortable. There are a lot of openly racist actions and language used throughout the performance, which do portray the horrible reality of the time and so will of course feel uneasy and won’t be an enjoyable watch. However, I think some use of racist language from certain actors was used for shock value and didn’t necessarily contribute to the story.

To conclude, I think the play serves as a great educational piece, and an introduction to Martin Luther King for those who may not know of his legacy. However, it suffers from being an epic play in an intimate space – with potential to be greater on a larger, end-on stage.

FIREBIRD

King’s Head Theatre

★★★★

“a beautifully told love story”

FIREBIRD

King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed on 21st January 2025

by David Robinson

Photography by Geraint Lewis

Previously reviewed at this venue:

FIREBIRD

FIREBIRD

FIREBIRD

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MARTIN LUTHER KING

Golden Goose Theatre

★★★

“Adrian Decosta plays a stellar Martin Luther King”