THE FIFTH STEP

@Sohoplace

★★★★

“the direction is slick and there’s always a sense that something is around the corner”

About halfway through this bracing alcohol-and-redemption two-hander, James suddenly appears in a rabbit’s head.

This is a call-back to a dream that Luka recounts, Luka being a newcomer to the step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous. In the dream, his sponsor James appears like a rabbit, and so he does again in real life.

This is an interesting fantastical element, we think, seeing the world through Luka’s eyes.
James, in the rabbit’s head, offers Luka some cake.

‘What kind of cake?’ asks Luka.

‘Carrot.’

That’s the whole point of this elaborate set-up – a carrot joke. The rabbit’s head is swiftly dispatched and is of no further use or consequence.

Therein lies the tension at the heart of The Fifth Step. We can see playwright David Ireland’s impish inclinations at work. He can’t help himself. If there’s a gag, he’s going to veer off course to hoover it up whatever the cost to character, balance or timing. Now we’re thinking: that whole bit about Luka’s dream? Was that just there to construct the rabbit-carrot gag?

The writer really wants us laughing. He is successful – for it is a very funny play – but it is also an effortful and visible urge. It means many of those tight 90 minutes are devoted to set-ups and punchlines are not available to develop character, relationships and substance.

Because the play also has a hankering to tackle big issues. There is the overarching scenario – a suicidal alcoholic seeking aid from a long sober veteran. This leads to discussions about the oedipal reflexes of fathers and sons, spiritual awakenings, inventories of shameful behaviour (aka, the fifth step) and – hold on to your hats – sex. Lots and lots of talk about self-pleasuring.

The result is resoundingly entertaining but frustratingly slim.

That is not to say the audience is short-changed.

For one, it is a very comfortable watch. Yes, the expletive-rich script can prove occasionally jarring, but the action speeds along, the dialogue flies about like a pinball, the direction is slick and there’s always a sense that something is around the corner – some twist or revelation – that will provide fresh juice.

The stage (set design Milla Clarke), in the round, aids this sense of urgency. It is reminiscent of a scattered circle of folding chairs at an AA meeting but soon becomes a wrestling ring, with two minds locked in an embrace, fighting each other to a breathless standstill.

Secondly, there are the performances. They are simply superb – low-key and silky. Jack Lowden is the freshly minted star of Slow Horses and here he reprises his role as Luka from a short Edinburgh run. He is all chaotic energy, his leg always bouncing, his mind always racing.

Martin Freeman, as James, has a knack for freighted stillness. And, of course, he has a history of hangdog deadpanning that is firmly part of comedy legend. But we also know – if only from his Bafta-nominated role in The Responder – that beneath that placid exterior, roiling anger bubbles and seethes.

Their parts are underwritten and their relationship too mercurial to be wholly conclusive but in the moment, there is a wonderful chemistry. Finn Den Hertog’s direction makes full use of their combustible contrasts – younger and older, tall and short, keen and jaded, motionless and jittery.

All this makes for a brisk and punchy tour of two fractured psyches struggling to account for a lifetime of queasy impulses. Worth a watch, if you dare.

THE FIFTH STEP

@Sohoplace

Reviewed on 17th May 2025y

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Johan Persson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

A CHRISTMAS CAROL(ISH) | ★★★★ | November 2024

DEATH OF ENGLAND: CLOSING TIME | ★★★★ | August 2024

DEATH OF ENGLAND: DELROY | ★★★★★ | July 2024

DEATH OF ENGLAND: MICHAEL | ★★★★★ | July 2024

THE LITTLE BIG THINGS | ★★★★ | September 2023

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN | ★★★★★ | May 2023

THE FIFTH STEP

★★★★

“The direction is astounding to maintain a delicate balance between a comedy and the central ‘whodunit.’”

Over 13 years since its first performance, Murder, She Didn’t Write is still touring and delighting audiences more than ever as it embarks on a UK tour in 2025. It is an intriguing spin on the classic murder mystery, a narrative framework that, despite the ‘murder,’ we feel comfortable with as we have seen it many times before.

However, it is certain that we haven’t seen this one before. Every night the stars of Degrees of Error act out a new storyline based on plot points that are yet to be determined. Agatha Crust, an obvious nod to the godmother of the genre, is our detective. She chooses one lucky audience member to perform the role of Jerkins, her assistant. From this point on, Jerkins holds the pen as they choose the setting, murder weapon, victim and murderer in this one-off recount. But don’t worry, all is not uncovered until the big reveal.

The play starts slowly as our characters are introduced and the scene is set. Credit should go to the set design (Justin Williams) for producing a backdrop that works remarkably well; however, the story unfolds. Credit should also go costume design and supervisor (Lu Herbert and Charlotte Murray). The costumes are expositions about the characters that we are watching, adding depth and reference and helping us to easily differentiate between our suspects.

The actors take a short time to work their way into the narrative. Most of the first act is about planting the seed for what is to follow. Countless random details are divulged by each of the characters. Some of these will be red herrings, others will be smoking guns. The quick wit of all the cast members is side-splitting. “Waitrose” becomes “Wait Rose!” and “synesthetic” becomes “sin aesthetic” as the audience’s suggestions and earlier events are woven into the narrative.

At times it feels like the show is starting to lose its course before Agatha regains control. The direction (Lizzy Skrzypiec, who also sometimes stars as Agatha) is astounding to maintain a delicate balance between a comedy and the central ‘whodunit.’

Agatha, on stage for the entire performance, is a comforting presence as she watches the story alongside us. It is an exceptional performance as the glue of a production that, despite the impressive improvisation of all of the cast, would possibly not function without her. Predictably, Agatha steals the show in the final chapter when she moves from narrator to detective, and explains, in front of all of the suspects, who committed the murder, just like Poirot did in Murder on the Orient Express. It is a delivery so strong that we are told not why it could be this suspect but how it must be them and could not be anyone else.

The lighting and sound (Adam King and Lucy Baker-Swinburn) are critical to the show and help to steer the plot as much as any of the characters. The choice of music (Sara Garrard) is precise, which acts as an antidote to the chaos surrounding it. The use of short scenes, some as short as 30 seconds, is effective in contributing to the rising tension in the second act, but it does feel as though the play suffers from a lack of continuity, and thus an over-reliance on our narrator.

Despite the characters knowing who the murderer is (before the audience), as we approach the crescendo, we fear that there are too many storylines still spinning, like a magician spinning too many plates. However, we see that none of these spinning plates smash as we are watching magicians on stage.

Tag Archives: Nimax

THE FIFTH STEP

★★★★

@Sohoplace

THE FIFTH STEP

@Sohoplace

★★★★

“the direction is slick and there’s always a sense that something is around the corner”