Josh McClure Archives - thespyinthestalls.com

Spiderfly

Theatre503

Reviewed – 11th November 2019

★★★★★

“a fantastically unpredictable play – deeply unsettling its audience one moment and then having them roar with cathartic laughter the next”

John Webber’s debut play immediately makes a strong, lasting impression, bursting onto the Theatre503 stage with all the boxes for a winning production ticked and making me wonder why we haven’t come across Webber sooner. It packs high drama, nail-biting tension and po-faced hilarity into one 80 minute two-hander, paired beautifully with a production design that strikes the optimum balance between simplicity and ingenuity – Lizzy Leech (set/costume), Dominic Brennan (sound) and Peter Small (lighting) are to be applauded for their masterful touch here.

Spiderfly follows the story of Esther (Lia Burge), who is still traumatised by her sister Rachel’s death and wants answers from Keith (Matt Whitchurch), the man convicted of and who pleaded not guilty to Rachel’s murder. A blossoming romance with Chris (also Whitchurch) is tested as Esther allows herself to be drawn into Keith’s unsettling world; her dogged determination for truth manifesting in subsequent visits where the two form a dangerous bond. More and more we watch in fascinated horror as Keith’s effect on Esther’s own life outside the visits becomes more profound, and we wonder whether she will fall completely under his spell before finding the closure she so desperately seeks.

It’s a fantastically unpredictable play – deeply unsettling its audience one moment and then having them roar with cathartic laughter the next. A structure where the finer details and context of the plot are drip-fed in a way that gives just enough information to know what’s going on but still maintaining an air of mysterious suspense is part of why Spiderfly remains entirely gripping throughout – it really feels as though you are rewarded for sticking with it.

As for Burge and Whitchurch, they pay absolute dividends to the text. The performances are so well observed you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d written it themselves – director Kirsty Patrick Ward has clearly done a fantastic job in eking out the rich morsels of detail for the characters. Esther’s deep-set trauma is painstakingly etched into everything the character does – never once does Burge lose this, even during the lighter scenes with Chris where despite her best efforts, Esther seems as though something is holding her back. It’s a highly sophisticated performance and never one-note, as the relatability of some of Esther’s lines (“I need to look happy. Nicotine-free, obviously”) thankfully maintain her sense of humour.

Whitchurch’s contrast between Keith and Chris is extremely impressive and in the earlier stages of the play I had to look closely just to check whether it really was the same actor playing both. The lovably awkward, put-his-foot-in-it-again Chris is a favourite of the audience and provides effective comic relief, however Keith is the character that stays with you. Whitchurch’s performance is absolutely chilling – Keith is often friendly and almost charming, but a deep undercurrent of violence is forever present. When his nastier side rears its head the character becomes genuinely terrifying, absolutely dripping with quiet menace. The last scene between Keith and Esther is truly a masterclass in acting and even by itself well worth watching Spiderfly for.

I have utmost confidence that this will not be the last we see of Webber – Spiderfly is absolutely spectacular and as a debut play blows all expectations out of the water.

Reviewed by Sebastian Porter

Photography by Josh McClure

Spiderfly

Theatre503 until 30th November

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Caterpillar | ★★★★ | September 2018

The Art of Gaman | ★★★★ | October 2018

Hypocrisy | ★★★½ | November 2018

Cinderella and the Beanstalk | ★★★★ | December 2018

The Amber Trap | ★★★ | April 2019

A Partnership | ★★★ | October 2019

Out Of Sorts | ★★★★ | October 2019

Click here to see our most recent reviews

★★★★

“a breathless surrealist caper that is sustained by its own unimpeachable internal logic”

Dressed in matching red boiler suits labelled with their names (Ex, Why and Zed), three chums work themselves up into an existential lather over a lost woodlouse, named Euan. So terrifying is their off-stage boss who entrusted them with this creature, every phone call from her (and there are many) ratchets up the tension exponentially, as they reason that she will likely demand a human sacrifice if Euan is not forthcoming. Like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the characters spend their dwindling time questioning their circumstances, arguing about their instructions and interrogating each other’s accounts of previous meetings with the boss, in mounting terror.

The neurotic centre of this absurdist plot is Why played by George Craig who opens the piece already in the highest imaginable state of angst, having mislaid Euan from his matchbox. Somehow, he manages to get ever more worked up over the hour, sucking the steadier Ex (George Bailey) and affably bovine Zed (Hal Darling) into a vortex of comedy mania, generating a mist of nervous sweat in the stifling Lion and Unicorn Theatre.

Although the storyline is the concoction of all three, George Bailey as writer, makes it gel through a cleverly balanced trio of characters. Ex, supplied with a whistle to denote his managerial status, creates a classic double act with Why’s childlike distress. Zed then fits neatly between them with his own brand of dim waffle. The rapidly firing dialogues create a stream of laughs, puncturing every moment of tension with ludicrous changes of tone and subject. Even as their moment of doom draws close they find time to discuss calmly subjects such as how one learns to masturbate or the primary determinants of pizza delivery times.

Since 2006, the Camden Fringe has expanded its mission of supporting performers not ready for Edinburgh to more than twenty venues and hundreds of shows. In theory this could mean exposing the faults of works not ready for public consumption, but as Euan’s well-produced programme explains, this one has been developed over several manifestations and is now nearing its final state, with a Euan 2 even promised. Director Lucy Betts has created a breathless surrealist caper that is sustained by its own unimpeachable internal logic. The need for three phones on stage seems questionable and some of Why’s ‘ideas for novels’ are of impenetrable significance but they hardly break the spell. In a world where losing a woodlouse has such dire consequences, analysis is futile.

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by Josh McClure

Theatre503

Reviewed – 11th November 2019

★★★★★

“a fantastically unpredictable play – deeply unsettling its audience one moment and then having them roar with cathartic laughter the next”

I have utmost confidence that this will not be the last we see of Webber – Spiderfly is absolutely spectacular and as a debut play blows all expectations out of the water.

Reviewed by Sebastian Porter

Photography by Josh McClure

Spiderfly

Theatre503 until 30th November

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Lion and Unicorn Theatre

Reviewed – 29th July 2019

★★★★

“a breathless surrealist caper that is sustained by its own unimpeachable internal logic”

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by Josh McClure

Euan

Lion and Unicorn Theatre until 31st July as part of Camden Fringe 2019

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: