CLARKSTON
Trafalgar Theatre
★★★★
“a gentle and delicate slow burner”
Clarkston is a small city in Washington State in the far northwest of the United States, named after William Clark of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. Over two centuries ago, the intrepid couple set out on a journey to explore the vast, uncharted lands of the American West. Land that was acquired through the ‘Louisiana Purchase’ (the impact on Native Americans is another matter – for another article, at another time). It was a two-and-a-half-year journey that ended with them setting up camp at what is now Clarkston (not Lewiston?). Two hundred years later, where the rivers meet on the Idaho border, a Costco warehouse store now stands in pride of place.
That much is fact. Fiction now takes over in the form of Samuel D. Hunter’s new play set predominantly in that Costco. Jake (Joe Locke) has made the trek from Connecticut only to wind up as a night shift worker stacking shelves, and is taken under the wing of fellow worker, Chris (Ruaridh Mollica), a local lad. They are essentially chalk and cheese but quickly form a strong, and often tender, bond. Jake comes from an affluent family, educated but complicated, while Chris is stuck in the backwaters trying to save up to go to college. What informs the narrative are the shadows that hang over them: Jake’s in the shape of his progressive Huntington’s disease (he reckons he has eight years left to live at tops), while Chris is eclipsed by the presence of his drug-addict mother, Trisha (Sophie Melville).
Hunter’s writing is solid yet nuanced, achieving a delicate balance of humour and introspection, with complete authenticity. There’s a hopelessness that is somewhat bleak, but the performances keep us engaged throughout and we cannot help but care for these two lost souls. Locke shows real strength as a somewhat weak and ambiguous character, full of contradictions. He claims he has been dumped by his boyfriend, but the relationship was never consummated. His sophistication is a shroud, while Chris is more honest about his inexperience. Mollica’s portrayal is a masterclass in subtlety and understatement, gently revealing a tortured personality. Likewise, the play is a gentle and delicate slow burner, intermittently rippled by Melville’s self-destructive anguish as Trisha. She seems to accept, but cannot fully understand, her son’s sexuality, but Melville gives an utterly convincing show of maternal love that is blurred by the grip of dependency – a dependency not just on her drugs but on Chris too. She occasionally becomes the child, sheepishly downplaying her relapse.
Yet at its centre is the relationship between Jake and Chris. For the most part, this play has the feel of a two-hander. Director, Jack Serio, keeps the naturalism in sharp focus, almost ensuring us that we are witnessing real life (Jake claims to be a direct descendant of the American explorer, William Clark, and we believe it). Milla Clarke’s storehouse set reinforces the realism, and when needed, Stacey Derosier’s evocative lighting transports us to a new dawn on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. We are left with feelings of hope that hint at an escape form the gloom.
“Clarkston” is fairly low on drama, but it is steeped in atmosphere. Moving and vulnerable, it languidly coaxes its themes out of the closet and into our hearts. Not necessarily life-changing but definitely life-affirming. On the surface somewhat ordinary but ultimately shaped into something quite extraordinary.
CLARKSTON
Trafalgar Theatre
Reviewed on 25th September 2025
by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Marc Brenner
Previously reviewed at this venue:
PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS | ★★★★★ | May 2024
JERSEY BOYS | ★★★★ | August 2021
