THE DIVINE MRS S at the Hampstead Theatre

★★★★

“A delightful mix of the traditional and the contemporary.”

In her time, Sarah Siddons was known as the Queen of Drury Lane, renowned for her roles in Shakespeare tragedies – especially her Lady Macbeth. She hung out with the top dramatists of the time, including David Garrick and Samuel Johnson. She had the leading artists fawning over her, desperate for her to be the subject of their paintings. Yet this powerful woman also personified the powerlessness of women at the time. It is the tail end of the eighteenth century. Women were deprived of money, couldn’t own property, and had no real legal rights. No control over their children – nor even their own bodies.

April De Angelis’ play “The Divine Mrs S” takes us backstage, shedding light on the personal tragedy behind the grand ‘tragedies’ portrayed under the spotlights. Sarah Siddons’ acting career was under the direct control of her imposing brother (actor and manager John Kemble), and it was her husband who received her fees and signed her contracts. She was shunted off on a provincial tour when it looked like her acting would upstage her male counterparts. All the while her children appeared to be dropping like flies all around her. But De Angelis, whilst highlighting the dreadful state of affairs, steers well clear of worthy polemic or earnest tragedy, and instead dresses Siddons’ fight for self-expression and self-determination in a couple of hours of very fine comedy.

The language has a contemporary feel while harking back to Restoration Comedy, French Farce, and even touches of Commedia Dell’arte thrown in. De Angelis pokes fun at all the right characters, but doesn’t let righteousness intrude. In occasionally breaking the fourth wall, a charming self-deprecation is allowed to colour Siddons’ earnestness as she conspires with the audience, commenting on everyone’s foibles – including her own.

This mix of feistiness and fun is in no better hands than Rachael Stirling. The sharpness of Stirling’s delivery of Siddons’ words matches the biting wit De Angelis has given those words. Set mainly in the confines of the dressing room it encapsulates the whole world of the theatre. Dominic Rowan neatly conveys the lecherous misogyny of theatre manager Kemble, hamming it up to ridiculous heights when called upon to actually ‘act’ on the stage next to his far more talented sister. Anushka Chakravarti shines as Siddons’ all-knowing maid, dresser, personal assistant and ultimately counsellor. Meanwhile Eva Feiler, Sadie Shimmin and Gareth Snook multirole in excess to bring all the other characters onstage, in the right order and in the right costume. Most notable of these is Feiler’s Joanna Baillie; the writer who has to conceal the fact that she is a woman otherwise her plays will not get staged. When Kemble discovers her true gender he pulls her play, even though it is the most successful production he’s had for a while.

Even that contentious issue is dealt with in good humour. They say that if you want people to listen to you, the best way is to make them laugh. And there are even more laughs in the second act. And also more pertinence. The concept gets trickier, but the message gets clearer as Stirling more frequently steps out of character, allowing her to cast a contemporary perspective on the eighteenth-century restrictions imposed on the woman she is playing.

“The Divine Mrs S” can’t really be labelled a comedy or a tragedy. But it encapsulates both, and addresses serious issues – serving them up as light entertainment. Historically that would classify it as a ‘Problem Play’. But I have no problem with this one at all. A delightful mix of the traditional and the contemporary.

THE DIVINE MRS S at the Hampstead Theatre

Reviewed on 28th March 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Johan Persson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

DOUBLE FEATURE | ★★★★ | February 2024

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL | ★★★★ | December 2023

ANTHROPOLOGY | ★★★★ | September 2023

STUMPED | ★★★★ | June 2023

LINCK & MÜLHAHN | ★★★★ | February 2023

THE ART OF ILLUSION | ★★★★★ | January 2023

SONS OF THE PROPHET | ★★★★ | December 2022

BLACKOUT SONGS | ★★★★ | November 2022

MARY | ★★★★ | October 2022

THE FELLOWSHIP | ★★★ | June 2022

THE BREACH | ★★★ | May 2022

THE FEVER SYNDROME | ★★★ | April 2022

THE DIVINE MRS S

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FOR BLACK BOYS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE HUE GETS TOO HEAVY at the Garrick Theatre

★★★★

“a beautifully poetic and bold piece of theatre”

For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, takes your brain and your heart. It is a rollercoaster party for all, as Ryan Calais Cameron’s award-winning production returns to the West End for a limited season.

Starring in the now iconic roles in this new production of FBB, are a powerful new blend of talented actors: Tobi King Bakare (Onyx), Shakeel Haakim (Pitch) making his professional debut, Fela Lufadeju (Jet), Albert Magashi (Sable), Mohammed Mansaray (Obsidian) and Posi Morakinyo (Midnight). The cast of six young Black men are all in sync with each other and shine with their own identities and characters, with laugh out loud humour and exposed vulnerability.

It makes for a beautifully poetic and bold piece of theatre.

The show opens with a stunning piece of slow motion movement which then explodes with the colourful individual characters telling their stories of the beauty and burden of being black – and just being a human. This is a story of manhood and masculinity in Black Britain today, flowing through dance, monologues and music.

We meet the six young men in what appears to be a safe space therapy group telling their bravura stories about father figures or lack of, and macho sex. They are all about “how to be the right type of Black man” showing power and strength. But we also see snippets of their childhoods when they were bullied or not chased by the girls in kiss chase – because of the colour of their skin. They are visceral, and the aggressive and powerful choreography by Theophilus O. Bailey, shows the perception of angry young Black men, and how they articulate themselves when words fail them.

In act two, the set designed by Anna Reid, opens up into a fantasy fluorescent playground where the men feel safe to tell their truths with pain and honesty. The choreography softens but is equally as powerful. Self-aware and touchingly naïve, they talk poetically of their mothers’ eyes, their need for love, love found and love lost, abuse, peer pressure and sexuality….. as they each expose their raw vulnerability.

And that’s when they start to sing. As their trust grows their harmonies soar, as they show tenderness and emotion towards each other. Together these men are electric.

FBB is a stunningly slick show directed by the writer Ryan Calais Cameron, with music and sound by Nicola T. Chang.

In Cameron’s, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, the message to those who have considered suicide is to learn to love yourself – and breathe. It is a very current and universal story – young men and mental health. It is about all young men who have considered suicide.

THE DIVINE MRS S at the Hampstead Theatre

★★★★

“A delightful mix of the traditional and the contemporary.”

THE DIVINE MRS S at the Hampstead Theatre

Reviewed on 28th March 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Johan Persson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE DIVINE MRS S

THE DIVINE MRS S

FOR BLACK BOYS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE HUE GETS TOO HEAVY at the Garrick Theatre

★★★★

“a beautifully poetic and bold piece of theatre”

FOR BLACK BOYS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE HUE GETS TOO HEAVY at the Garrick Theatre

Reviewed on 7th March 2024

by Debbie Rich

Photography by Johan Persson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

FOR BLACK BOYS WHO

FOR BLACK BOYS WHO