Tag Archives: Jonathan Harvey

Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing

★★★★★

Theatre Royal Stratford East

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BEAUTIFUL THING at the Theatre Royal Stratford East

★★★★★

Beautiful Thing

“The pair have an enchanting chemistry – they perfectly capture the awkward nervousness of young love”

Jonathan Harvey’s coming-out and coming-of-age story Beautiful Thing was first performed at the Bush Theatre in 1993. Now, 30 years on, a revival – directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike – has graced the stage of London’s Theatre Royal Stratford East. Strikingly relevant to today and beautifully told, we follow 16-year-old neighbours Jamie (Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran) and Ste (Raphael Akuwudike) as their gentle love story unfolds within the tightknit working-class community of Thamesmead. Jamie clashes with his no-nonsense mother Sandra (Shvorne Marks) and her middle-class boyfriend Tony (Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge) whilst Ste struggles against his abusive, alcoholic father. School drop-out Leah (Scarlett Rayner) and her absent mother complete the trio of houses on which the play focuses.

Owokoniran, a last-minute replacement for Joshua Asaré who dropped out due to personal circumstances, shines in the lead role. He is best when leaning into his young character’s sweetness – parading around in the glasses that Ste likes is a particular highlight – and when wittily sparring with Sandra. Akuwudike does an excellent job at rendering Ste’s cheery disposition as well as his hesitancy and frustration at his family circumstances. The pair have an enchanting chemistry – they perfectly capture the awkward nervousness of young love and are totally believable in it.

Sandra evolves throughout the show and Marks brings a great empathy to her. A self-reliant single mother with a string of younger lovers, she is hurting and craves her son’s affection. Blackwood-Cambridge is hilarious as Tony. His overly sexual movement and mannerisms – directed by Annie-Lunette Deakin-Foster – are excellent. He fully embraces the absurdity of his ill-placed character. He does, however, also deliver real tenderness in his final scenes, elevating his character beyond the clown with great skill.

“It is funny, uplifting and has real heart.”

Rayner provides a great brashness to the proceedings and does great in the play’s climax when her character has a bad trip. She is an effective foil for the other characters – her need to interfere and ask difficult questions drives much of the plot.

Rosie Elnile has designed a gorgeous set. We see the cream concrete exterior of our protagonists’ respective flats. Jamie’s – at the centre – is a rose between two thorns, a basket of flowers and a freshly painted door brighten up the otherwise nondescript façade. Characters enter via the flats or the right-hand side of the stage. The only interior to which we are privy is Jamie’s bedroom – a single bed that juts out from the exterior wall of his flat towards the audience.

Excellent lighting (Elliot Griggs) works wonders to enhance the set. Between scenes, colourful filters coat the set as characters dance and move rhythmically around highlighting the emotion or dynamic(s) of the previous scene. In addition, the lighting is used to grow and reduce the space, most obviously when we are in Jamie’s bedroom, his bed spotlighted, the rest of the stage dimmed to hone our attention onto the single room.

The sound design (Xana) is also thoroughly distinctive – funky, almost Seinfeld-esque beats play to transition us from one scene to the next. The musical stylings of Mama Cass also feature heavily. Her music drifts out from super fan Leah’s flat and her song ‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’ is an anthem for Jamie and Ste’s acceptance of their sexuality.

Beautiful Thing is a thoroughly touching story of queer joy. It is funny, uplifting and has real heart. The cast bring strong and nuanced performances to their respective characters and the script is brilliantly quick. Time flies whilst watching this play and your cheeks will hurt from smiling at the charming tale. I could not recommend it enough.


BEAUTIFUL THING at the Theatre Royal Stratford East

Reviewed on 22nd September 2023

by Flora Doble

Photography by The Other Richard


 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

 

CAFÉ SOCIETY SWING   ★★★★★  June 2018

PYAR ACTUALLY   ★★★★  May 2018

SUMMER IN LONDON  ★★★★★  July 2017

TOMMY  ★★★★  June 2017

Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing

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Musik

Musik

★★★★

Leicester Square Theatre

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Musik

Musik

 Leicester Square Theatre

Reviewed – 11th February 2020

★★★★

 

“Barber’s delivery is as fantastic as the words are fantastical.”

 

You’re not long into “Musik” before you realise that this isn’t really a musical at all. Although it features six original songs penned by the Pet Shop Boys, the focus is unquestionably on Jonathan Harvey’s wonderfully outrageous script and the sheer personality that bursts forth from Frances Barber’s magnificent performance.

Barber plays Billie Trix, a retired rock icon and actress in this sequel to ‘Closer To Heaven’ which premiered nearly twenty years ago just around the corner at the Arts Theatre to somewhat mixed reviews. Trix was a minor character but even then, Barber made her the star of the production, so it seems inevitable that she be given her own show. And as she strides through the auditorium up to the stage, she makes no bones about this being her show. Barber owns the character outright, and to some extent the script, allowing herself some ad hoc ad libs. Madonna’s cancelled gig at the Palladium is the first target of Billie Trix’s acerbic banter.

It’s a kind of cradle to grave narration. Although, despite her sex-and-drugs-and-rock-and-roll life of excess, Trix is determined to keep her unavoidable destination at arm’s length. She was born a ‘mongrel’, her own mother’s one regret, but rises above this with the narcissist’s belief against all odds that she is a ‘gift to the world’. We never know for sure how much she believes her own fantasy, but we are spellbound by her anecdotal wizardry. The ushers will surely have their work cut out after the show, sweeping up the countless names she has dropped. She’s been there, done that and has the emotional scars to prove it. Andy Warhol stole her Campbells’ Soup Tins idea. Madonna stole her image; even Trump stole her virginity (though he was then a skinny lad called Otto). We want to believe it all as she takes us on her journey from post-war Berlin to the rock arenas of the world, via Vietnam and a Soho phone box. She has shared moments with them all – the Beatles, Lou Reid, Nico, Dalí, Damien Hirst, Eminem, Jean-Paul Sartre, Frank Zappa…

Trix was at the forefront of each revolution in pop culture. Brecht’s original ‘Mother Courage’, a star of the New York art-house film scene, the pioneer of Disco; the darling of the Surrealists and the scourge of the Young British Artists. Trix looks back on her fantastical life with bitterness but in Barber’s hands the only real rage we witness is that of laughter. Barber’s delivery is as fantastic as the words are fantastical. The further Billie Trix falls into obscurity the higher Frances Barber rises. You can see the sparks fly as she hones Harvey’s already razor-sharp script.

If anything, the music softens the punch. Trix showers us with a bewildering cascade of anecdotes and one-liners, which make the musical interludes feel a bit like a commercial break. The synth-pop sound does little to reference the text, although the lyrics do shine through thanks to Barber’s crackling voice. Unlike Trix, Barber knows her limitations and it is this loveable self-deprecation that allows us to love such an unloveable, foul-mouthed character.

“Someone make it stop!” Trix shouts out at one point. A vain exclamation as Barber is unstoppable. Trix may be washed up, but Barber is on the crest of a wave with this role.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Marc Brenner

 


Musik

Leicester Square Theatre until 1st March

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice | ★★★★ | April 2018
Sh!t-faced Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet | ★★★★ | June 2018
Murder She Didn’t Write | ★★★★ | September 2018
Sh!t-faced Showtime: Oliver With a Twist! | ★★★ | September 2018
Stick Man | ★★★½ | October 2018
Sh!t-Faced Showtime: Oliver With A Twist | ★★ | March 2019
Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare: The Taming Of The Shrew | ★★★★★ | April 2019
Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare: Hamlet | ★★★ | June 2019
Sh!t-Faced Showtime: A Pissedmas Carol | ★★★★★ | November 2019
Captain Flinn And The Pirate Dinosaurs: The Magic Cutlass | ★★★★ | December 2019

 

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