THE BAND BACK TOGETHER at the Arcola Theatre

★★★★

“a brittle and elegaic exploration of music, melancholy and missed opportunities”

When the band gets back together, there’s always going to be more to unpack than a muffled snare drum and a spare plectrum. The inventory will inevitably include revelations, regrets and ruminations on the roads not taken.

So it is for Elle, Ross and Joe who have lived a lifetime since their Salisbury-based trio cut a swathe across Wiltshire and surrounding counties. They were young then, and carefree. They return for a reunion gig in their 30s, but reluctantly, for they are different people now.

Barney Norris writes and directs The Band Back Together, a frequently funny, often mournful and never less than engaging examination of that rare and ephemeral thing – youthful friendships – and why they can never last. While the piece never hits any true emotional heights – the music doing the heavy lifting here – the pace never flags.

Joe (James Westphal) is the instigator of the reunion, prompted into action by a charity gig to raise money for the Salisbury Novichok poisonings of 2018.

They worry no one will remember that time when the cathedral city became the centre of global geo-political wrangling. They worry more, of course, that no one will remember the band (although they assure themselves that a 5pm start will guarantee a decent crop of 80-year-olds).

Joe is the one that never got away, staying in Salisbury all his life. He claims to be happy despite his agitation. Joe is abject with Westphal capturing the tics of someone living the wrong life in the wrong skin.

His first encounter with poised Ellie (Laura Evelyn) is an excruciating and often hilarious masterclass in awkwardness. It’s all mistimed fist bumps, angular hugs and bad taste banter that used to work but now hits hard. Cold coffee and cold comfort inform their tentative investigations into each other’s lives as they struggle to find rhythm.

“That’s depressing,” becomes Ellie’s wry refrain as Joe tries to convince her that everything worked out perfectly. Her own life – trying for a baby, settling down – is not without its troubles but Evelyn gives Ellie a playful air, smoothing the fragments of her distress.

Ross (Royce Cronin) is the third member of the band, arriving late. Like Ellie, he also escaped. He made it as a minor musician so, in this crowd, he can afford to be louche, provocative and arrogant. Cronin finds the sweet spot, never letting us cast him as villain.

Magically, this tense and feisty sparring melts to nothing when the band begins to play. In a nice touch, even their conversation becomes more poetic when spoken through a mic.

Credit to the versatile performers, the musical interludes are handsome and accomplished. The actors play live, and exceptionally well. In Arcola’s plain studio, with cables and stands, littering the space (Becci Kenning), it’s not difficult to imagine the sweaty-bricked backdrop of a pub rock venue in “Warminster and Trowbridge” where the band hit their heights.

Music has the power if not to heal the wounds at least provide relief. Then it’s back to the rigours of conflict. It turns out the trio can master the drums, keyboard and guitar but it is that pesky triangle that will be their undoing.

The Band Back Together is a brittle and elegaic exploration of music, melancholy and missed opportunities. This compact production, with three vital performances at its heart, will strike a chord with anyone who left themselves behind in order to grow up.

THE BAND BACK TOGETHER at the Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 6th September 2024

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Kate Hockenhull

Previously reviewed at this venue:

MR PUNCH AT THE OPERA | ★★★ | August 2024

FABULOUS CREATURES | ★★★ | May 2024

THE BOOK OF GRACE | ★★★★★ | May 2024

LIFE WITH OSCAR | ★★★ | April 2024

WHEN YOU PASS OVER MY TOMB | ★★★★★ | February 2024

SPUTNIK SWEETHEART | ★★★ | October 2023

GENTLEMEN | ★★★★ | October 2023

THE BRIEF LIFE & MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF BORIS III, KING OF BULGARIA | ★★★★★ | September 2023

THE WETSUITMAN | ★★★ | August 2023

UNION | ★★★ | July 2023

DUCK | ★★★★ | June 2023

POSSESSION | ★★★★★ | June 2023

THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

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★★★½

“as the physical theatre of the misfiring affections became a bawdy, raucous spectacle the audience is utterly won over”

With lighting rigs exposed, no scenery but a looming fabric moon overhead, the stripped back stage at Wilton’s Music Hall provides the perfect setting for The Faction’s stripped back Midsummer Night’s Dream. Disposing of the customary prettiness, director Mark Leipacher aims to expose new textual truths within the play, namely that the war-ravaged Athenians of the period would have been willingly distracted by the aristocratic nuptials of the plot, just as (he claims) we’re happily diverted by Royal events in the midst of looming climate change.

So it is that the four young lovers are drawn into the Athenian woods to be engulfed by the magic and mayhem of fairies and artisan players, similarly attracted to promised festivities. With only the bare text, everyday clothes, a few accents and their own physicality (great credit here to The Faction’s movement director, Richard James Neale) the ensemble take on the characters’ conflicting desires. Demetrius (Christopher York) expects to marry Hermia (Lowri Izzard), who prefers Lysander (Jeremy Ang Jones) while Helena (Laura Evelyn) pursues Demetrius. With the introduction of Oberon’s magical herbs, desires turn upside down with the Fairy Queen Titania lusting after an oafishly braying Bottom (Christopher Hughes) and Helena is distressed to find herself now pursued by both Lysander and Demetrius.

For such a complex plot, the idea of stripping back to the bare text is an interesting one, it unveils the darker side of the play as, divested of finery, the actions seem more lustful and even boorish, perhaps a truer reflection of many romantic experiences. The movement is brilliant in places, creating scene and mood through background dance, replacing the traditional entrances and exits. However, the most important motif in the play is contrast, something this production didn’t really have, at least between the groups of characters. Men wore floral shirts, but aside from that the cast wore much the same as the audience. If Egeus can become Puck through the simple application of a backwards baseball cap, something similar could have helped others.

Sound and lighting design (Yaiza Varona and Ben Jacobs) strain hard to guide the audience through the changes and good use is made of Wilton’s split level stage to delineate roles. There are also some fascinating interpretations from the cast. Lowri Izzard is crystal clear vocally but also in her characterisations of Hermia, Starveling and Cobweb. Linda Marlowe’s degenerate Puck is ingenious, malevolent, yet likeable against the odds. In any case, by the second half, as the physical theatre of the misfiring affections became a bawdy, raucous spectacle the audience is utterly won over. Whether it was The Faction, the Music Hall or the comedy itself that does the winning, it hardly matters.

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by The Other Richard

THE BAND BACK TOGETHER at the Arcola Theatre

★★★★

“a brittle and elegaic exploration of music, melancholy and missed opportunities”

THE BAND BACK TOGETHER at the Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 6th September 2024

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Kate Hockenhull

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wilton’s Music Hall

Reviewed – 27th June 2018

★★★½

“as the physical theatre of the misfiring affections became a bawdy, raucous spectacle the audience is utterly won over”

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by The Other Richard

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wilton’s Music Hall until 30th June

Related

Previously reviewed productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream