★★★

“charmingly human and unique”

“Our Cosmic Dust” takes a heavy topic and makes it light. Paradoxically, it looks at its subject matter through a child’s eye and, by doing so, tackles the mechanisms of grief and loss with a clarity and maturity that can only come from the honesty of innocence. The emotions are loud and big, but writer and director Michinari Ozawa’s play is quiet and intimate while also allowing touches of comedy to seep into the narrative – a brave choice, like someone telling jokes at a wake.

The central character is Shotaro, a curious schoolboy who spends his night counting the stars and wondering how many more unseen stars there are in the ‘dark bits in between’. Voiced by Hiroki Berrecloth, Shotaro is brought to life in puppet form. Berrecloth is pulling the strings and through his subtle and sensitive performance he layers rich expression onto the mute, blank face of the marionette. Shotaro believes his late father is up among the stars but realises that it is humanly impossible to get there to go and look for him. Instead, he opts to search for answers closer to home. ‘Where do people go when the die?’ is his recurring question.

His mother, Yoko, finds him missing one day. What is brushed over in Ozawa’s play is the unwitting selfishness of the boy – a pointed stab at the fact that the mother is not allowed, or given time, to grieve for herself. After all she is recently widowed, but the child pulls focus. Yoko has to remain useful as the mother in search of the son in search of the father. Millie Hikasa visually expresses these conflicting emotions, while also conveying the fear of a mother losing a child. The ensuing journey mercifully gives us some light relief. The characters that Shotaro, and then Yoko, meet all adopt childlike mannerisms that keep the adult world at bay. We enter a vaguely Dr. Seuss type world as we wander from the hospital to the crematorium to the planetarium.

Nina Bowers gives a delightful performance as nurse Tara who keeps her memories locked away in the silver tooth of her late mother. Sweary and naturally crude, she teams up with Yoko on their search, enlisting crematorium worker, Alastair (Hari Mackinnon), with all his fragile and tearful rashness; and finally, the matter-of-fact keeper of the planetarium, Orion (Ian Hallard in fine form). Each persona represents various viewpoints of the sweeping spirituality versus science debate. Without lecturing, the dialogue throws innocence and experience into the pit to gently fight it out.

Eika Shimbo’s video backdrops dominate the space, occupying the entire back wall. Predominantly monochrome, there is a childish simplicity to the animation that prevents the audience being fully swept into the three-dimensional world of its characters. Our imaginations are teased but the scale of the graphics sits uneasily with the piece. Too dominant to echo the workings of our protagonists’ thoughts, yet not quite grand enough to draw us into the cosmic odyssey we are promised. Tomohiro Kaburagi’s sound evokes stronger emotions, along with the music of Orenograffiti (ORENOTE) with its ethereal pads, rhythms and lush strings.

Translated from Ozawa’s Japanese original by Susan Momoko Hingley, the dialogue is sharp, and it travels well. It is difficult to disguise the over simplified sentimentality of its conclusion, however. It has come full circle during which its orbit has been more fascinating than its destination. The young Shotaro has needed guidance but seeking it he has shown that we all need it. Loss, grief and longing isn’t the preserve of the young or the old – it is universal, and Ozawa has presented this in a charmingly human and unique way.

THE FROGS

Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★

“Dan Buckley’s Dionysos and Kevin McHale’s Xanthias make a wonderful double act”

“The Frogs” – the musical ‘freely’ adapted by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove from the ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes – opens with a paradox. The time is the present and the place is Ancient Greece. This tells us that the writers have given themselves license to tweak (to put it politely) the original for a modern audience. The central premise, however, needs little updating: Aristophanes used his play – at a time of crisis – as a biting satire of politics and religion, bemoaning the corruption inherent in society’s leaders and calling for the rejection of the status quo. Two-and-a-half-thousand years on we can pretty much still relate to that. What the writers have done is sprinkle it with contemporary references, added a fair dose of Sondheim’s inimitable music and lyrics and, with the help of Nathan Lane (‘even more freely’ adapted) dished up a couple of hours of mind-bogglingly, zany and funny – but inconsistent – musical theatre.

The title is a touch misleading. Yes, there are frogs. Frogs that populate the River Styx (of course!) and close Act One with a droll and incisive choral number; but beyond that they barely make an appearance. What “The Frogs” focuses on is the epic journey of Dionysos and his slave Xanthias into the Underworld and back in a bid to put the world to rights. Dionysos believes only art can save civilisation but contemporary dramatists aren’t up to scratch, so he decides ‘to go to Hell and back’ (this particular joke is milked for all its worth) to bring George Bernard Shaw back from the dead. He finds Shakespeare down there, constantly at loggerheads with Shaw. The two of them end up fighting it out in a linguistic dual, competing to see which one Dionysos will choose to accompany him back to the land of the living.

The journey is a bit of a meandering rollercoaster. Or rather log-flume, or water-chute. Although mercifully no water tanks have been employed to create a realistic representation of the Styx. Instead, Samuel Biondolillo’s evocative lighting, and Libby Todd’s clever breakaway set depict the worlds we travel through. Dan Buckley’s Dionysos and Kevin McHale’s Xanthias make a wonderful double act. They don’t break the fourth wall, they just take it for granted there isn’t one – which makes their on-stage chemistry and affectionate rivalry as master and slave, even more of a delight to be immersed in. They draw us into the story with ease, and we are willing accomplices. Joaquin Pedro Valdes is having great fun as the ab-flexing Herakles. Carl Patrick’s boatman Charon ups the fun stakes, veering dangerously close to indulgent, but Georgie Rankcom’s strong directorial hand keeps the cast firmly in check, possibly with the exception of Victoria Scone, as Pluto, who brings her Drag Race persona crashing onto the stage with the confidence of a fully-fledged Goddess. (Scone plays Pluto only until 31st May, after which a rota of other performers takes a week each).

The comedy’s sharpness is honed during the later stages of the show, when Bart Lambert’s Shakespeare and Martha Pothen’s Bernard Shaw tackle each other with words like drunkards brawling with bottles. Lambert’s and Pothen’s comic timing and grasp of their respective character’s linguistic styles is extraordinary and the humour, whilst more subtle, becomes increasingly satisfying the more it ditches its pantomime pizzazz.

More of a play with music than a musical, “The Frogs” is full of anachronisms and topical updates that bring the message closer to a contemporary audience. Even closer than the musical’s 1970s premiere, with references to influencers and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Bad Cinderella’ – among many others. This does add to the already heady mix of styles that can be a bit alienating, and the pointed political commentary (‘you get the leader you deserve’ for example) is a touch blunt and predictable. But there is no denying the sheer sense of fun, anarchy and silliness. Definitely worth hopping along to.

OUR COSMIC DUST

Park Theatre

★★★

“charmingly human and unique”

OUR COSMIC DUST

Park Theatre

Reviewed on 6th June 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Pamela Raith

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

OUR COSMIC DUST

OUR COSMIC DUST

OUR COSMIC DUST

THE FROGS

Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★

“Dan Buckley’s Dionysos and Kevin McHale’s Xanthias make a wonderful double act”

THE FROGS

Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 27th May 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Pamela Raith

Last ten shows reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

THE FROGS

THE FROGS

THE FROGS

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