★★★★

“an incredibly fun, comedic and beautifully heart-warming show that everyone can enjoy”

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s ‘Why am I So Single?’ debuts in the West End, following the writers’ extremely successful ‘Six’. This new musical cleverly follows a meta portrayal of the pair exploring the issues of their love life and by proxy their own personal issues. The two best friends – under the pseudonyms ‘Nancy’ and ‘Oliver’ – sit in Oliver’s flat after being given the task of writing their next big fancy musical, and after various discussions of their failed dates decide that’s what the musical should be about. Through the medium of many a big fancy musical number, the conclusion of their failed love lives is far more heart-warming than one would expect.

The show opens with its meta framing of the narrative, with the writers talking to us directly through the characters. They state that all stories in the show are based on true events but with all people given different names. Set designer Moi Tran and costume designer Max Johns deserve so much credit for the way the stage moves from having literal set pieces and then ensemble actors seemingly transition to replace them. This was extremely enjoyable to watch and added a lot of fantastic comedic elements – my favourite being whenever the leads interacted with the human rubbish bin. The whole design of the show makes you feel like you’re at a party throughout – with the lighting (Jai Morjaria) primarily being a mix of pink and purple washes that change in time with the music.

The performances throughout the show are stellar and every single cast member is extremely committed. The ensemble shine throughout in both their musical and comedic performances. A mention has to go to Noah Thomas who plays Artie – an extremely strong performance that showed care and empathy for the leads while also telling them the truth when they need to hear it. One of his numbers is also a fantastic tap routine and a great tap routine is always a pleasure to watch. But, of course, the stars of the show are Jo Foster as Oliver and Leesa Tulley as Nancy. Both are incredibly powerful artists and were a pleasure to watch on stage. Foster particularly shines in the number ‘Disco Ball’, where they really are giving the audience everything and it’s such a privilege to be able to see such beautiful vulnerability on stage. Tulley’s performance also shows off her incredible vocal range and talent, and her solo ‘Lost’ brought many people in the audience to tears.

One of my favourite numbers was ‘Meet Market’ – not only a great song with fantastic routines on stage, but also great commentary on the dehumanising nature of dating apps. There were some songs that I felt weren’t necessary and took focus away from the main plotline. The main one I took issue with was a song about a bee, which seemingly is only in the show for the sake of one word play based joke. Unfortunate because two and a half hours already feels quite long for this show, so when the number played at the end of Act 1, I did begin to get quite restless.

‘Why am I So Single?’ is an incredibly fun, comedic and beautifully heart-warming show that everyone can enjoy. Musical theatre millennial fans will particularly enjoy the many show references and referrals to Friends. And with the West End musical scene sticking with its theme of even more movie musicals, it’s great to see something new and fresh bringing heart and soul into the theatre.

BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF at the Garrick Theatre

★★★

“the work feels constrained by its loyalty to the original series”

James Graham’s latest stage play following smash hit ‘Dear England’ is another piece that seeks to show us something about the state of the nation, albeit this time from a historical, rather than contemporary, lens. Boys from the Blackstuff is an adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s 1982 TV drama, considered among the best TV dramas of the twentieth century and currently available on BBC iPlayer. Now playing at the Garrick Theatre after transferring from the Liverpool Royal Court via the National Theatre, it’s a piece that attempts to both act as a faithful homage to the much-loved series, whilst introducing the blackstuff to younger audiences more likely to assume it’s in reference to the decline of mining towns than out of work tarmac layers.

Despite some suggestions that the play is just as relevant today, if not more so, than it was on TV release in 1982, this is most definitely a period piece. Unemployment in the UK in the early 1980s reached more than 10%, a far cry from the current national average of 4%. But in Liverpool, unemployment reached a whopping 20%, double the national average, following the collapse of the shipping industry and shedding of workers by major employers that were or still are common household names: United Biscuits, Tate and Lyle, Kellogg’s and Schweppes. Whilst this trend of higher-than-average unemployment persists in Liverpool today, the scale of the challenge is incomparable to what was experienced some 40 years ago.

Some of the underlying causes for this are explored in the play with characters providing theories from economics to geography. But ultimately, the ensemble piece shows how all the boys: Chrissie, Yosser, George, Dixie, Loggo and Snowy; are all most concerned with how they will survive, quite literally, as breadwinners for their families.

It takes a while for each of the characters to develop beyond surface level for several reasons. In Act One, the too short scenes are punctuated by over-choreographed set changes accompanied by the singing of an adapted Irish folk song, meaning conversations feel stunted. Time is also given to comic moments seemingly dropped in from the series that are not particularly sophisticated but got big laughs from the crowd.

All this results in a simplisitic portrayal of ‘good’ boys just trying to provide for themselves and their families picking up casual work and claiming the giro vs. the evil staff at the Department for Employment. Things do improve in Act Two, but it’s too long coming, meaning when Snowy dies after being chased by the dole-snoopers, we know too little about him to really care.

The most developed character is Yosser Hughes (Barry Sloane), the most forceful and fearsome of the group. Sloane’s portrayal of a man in the midst of a mental breakdown is rousing, aided by Kate Wasserberg’s choice to have him speak to his kids without them appearing on stage in an otherwise realist piece. This is explained at the show’s climax to devastating effect. But alongside this quite tragic arc, Sloane must continually regurgitate Yosser’s ‘gizza job’ catch phrase, which again may work on TV spread out over many episodes, but wore thin after it’s umpteenth hearing.

One of the piece’s saving grace’s is Amy Jane Cook’s set and costume design which feels fresh and exciting, with ominous cranes like fossilized relics of Liverpool’s once glorious past towering over the action. But on the whole, the work feels constrained by its loyalty to the original series, with the potential for more tension and drama in a more radical interpretation, rather than the apparently faithful condensation of a five-part series to a 2.5-hour stage production.

Tag Archives: Garrick Theatre

WHY AM I SO SINGLE?

★★★★

Garrick Theatre

WHY AM I SO SINGLE? at the Garrick Theatre

★★★★

“an incredibly fun, comedic and beautifully heart-warming show that everyone can enjoy”

WHY AM I SO SINGLE? at the Garrick Theatre

Reviewed on 10th September 2024

by David Robinson

Photography by Danny Kaan

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF | ★★★ | June 2024

FOR BLACK BOYS … | ★★★★ | March 2024

HAMNET | ★★★ | October 2023

THE CROWN JEWELS | ★★★ | August 2023

ORLANDO | ★★★★ | December 2022

MYRA DUBOIS: DEAD FUNNY | ★★★★ | September 2021

WHY AM I SO SINGLE?

WHY AM I SO SINGLE?

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF

★★★

Garrick Theatre

BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF at the Garrick Theatre

★★★

“the work feels constrained by its loyalty to the original series”