★★★★★

“Miriam Battye’s script is refreshingly honest and bitingly funny”

Boy meets girl. Girl harangues boy about the exhausting state of modern dating. Will girl persuade boy to stay? She has a pitch – settle for each other, and so remove the hellish search for ‘the one’. Can these two really set love aside and hack the system?

This two-hander is a push and pull, with both characters persuading and panicking in equal parts. It’s desperate, tense and raw. When it’s not unspeakably bleak it’s completely endearing.

Miriam Battye’s script is refreshingly honest and bitingly funny. The dialogue sizzles between these two hopeless individuals and the disastrous date comes alive as it spirals into a whirlwind of potential. Katie Posner’s energetic and dynamic direction keep the momentum whizzing along. This is vital. The darkness is always there, but there’s barely a gap between punchlines to process it. The characters are wincingly vulnerable. At times this is almost physically painful, you want to shout at them to stop talking, but the strength of the script and the direction means you’re back laughing with (or, at) them a minute later.

The play is about modern love, and men and women, but it’s also about these two tired and broken people. The characterisation is complex and well developed. She is more than bitter and he is more than a bit basic. Their whole worlds are alluded to, she affirms she’s very successful, but we never find out her job. It is repeatedly, if subtly hinted that he has no friends. There are stereotypes that are explored, but it never feels lazy, they are nodded to in a way which allows the play to become a broader social commentary.

“This play is funny, and unusual and feels extremely modern”

Letty Thomas (Her) and Archie Backhouse (Him) are sublime. Their comedy, chemistry and cohesion are key in making this show a delight to watch. The moment when Her tough mask slips, and she breaks down is executed by Thomas beautifully. It is a moment of true poignancy. Backhouse has particularly good comic timing, and the audience responds well to his baffled nice-boy jokes. However, it is when they work together, sparring and wheedling, that the performances really shine. In observing the easy, and genuinely sexy connection of the characters, it is important to note the role of intimacy director, Robbie Taylor Hunt.

The play is staged in the round, with a table and chairs that revolve on the spinning centre of the stage, lit from above by an overhanging floor lamp. Rhys Jarman designed the set, a highlight of which was the lamp turning into a working tap, filling Thomas’ cup with ‘beer’ while the stage span wildly. The lighting design by Rajiv Pattani does feel a little familiar, we have seen neon lights that flicker with rising tension a few times, but it does underline the tone nicely and it is effective, if not fresh.

This play is funny, and unusual and feels extremely modern. There are questions about power in it, there were moments where if the genders were reversed it would have been deeply uncomfortable, but that is in many ways the point. The play questions the conventions of dating, and love, and gender in an original and sparky way.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS at the Watermill Theatre

★★★★★

“The nuances of the characters are beautifully executed, particularly up close on the small stage.”

‘When Mr Bilbo Baggins announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement’. And so opens J. R. R. Tolkien’s monumental “The Lord of the Rings”; one of the best-selling books ever written. Since my early teens, I’m not sure I have met anybody who hasn’t read it. The Sunday Times once stated that “the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read ‘Lord of the Rings’ and those who are going to read it”. Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films echoes the epic scale of fantasy and adventure. How, then, can the story translate to a two-hundred-seater theatre in the Berkshire countryside? A good question, and one that becomes swiftly answered as we wander through the Shire, under an open sky, into Bilbo’s much anticipated birthday party. Woodsmoke drifts from the gardens of the old mill down to the stream, with the scent of Hog roast floating among the jugglers and minstrels, while Hobbits mingle with ‘the Big Folk’. As the party reaches its end, we are ushered inside where the adventure begins. A very big adventure in a pretty small space, but The Watermill Theatre have concocted a production in which each element of the stagecraft would put the most hallowed wizard to shame.

It is telling that this adaptation by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus (with music by A. R. Rahman, Värttinä and Christopher Nightingale) is referred to as a ‘musical tale’ rather than a musical. Shunning convention it avoids formulaic showtunes. Instead, the soundtrack follows the pulse of the emotions rather than the narrative; the underscoring seamlessly merging into song. Impressively performed by the actor-musician cast and ensemble, Mark Aspinall’s orchestrations ranges from folk to bar-room jigs, through to bombastic percussion-driven anthems, back again to the mysticism of the Celtic harp, whistles, fiddles and gorgeous voices.

“Each member of the cast deserves mention, and each could threaten to steal the show”

Frodo, who has inherited the One Ring from his cousin at the birthday party has to undertake the quest to destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Louis Maskell carries the role with an instinctive ease that belies the demands of the emotional journey required. Nuwan Hugh Perera, as his companion Sam, is an unexpected voice of reason, merging light relief with solid support for his fellow hobbits. Across the board, the portrayal of the characters is natural, and paradoxically believable in all their other-worldly implausibility. Peter Marinker’s Gandalf has the wizened wisdom that keeps his power in check. Both Georgia Louise, as the Royal Elf Galadriel, and Aoife O’Dea as Arwen, enchant us with their performances and musicality. Each member of the cast deserves mention, and each could threaten to steal the show. The largest threat being Matthew Bugg’s Gollum, who weaves his way into the second act: feral, feline and fluid. Bugg moves as though underwater, defying gravity as easily as abusing the hobbits’ trust.

The nuances of the characters are beautifully executed, particularly up close on the small stage. But remarkably, when required, the epic proportions magically come into full force. Paul Hart’s staging is phenomenal. Simon Kenny’s ingenious design utilises every nook and cranny of the playing space. With the stunning combination of Adam Fisher’s sound, Rory Beaton’s lighting, George Reeve’s projections, Charlie Tymms’ puppetry and Anjali Mehra’s choreography (to name a few of the key creatives), the effect is that of a sweeping panorama. Only later, in retrospect, does one wonder how it is achieved.

“The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale” is little short of a miracle. As we are led back outside, back to the Shire, darkness has fallen. We bid farewell to Frodo. Emotions are running high. Our senses have been caught in the storm of a spectacle, but we have still heard the intimate sounds of extraordinary theatre making. Most people who have read Tolkien’s high-fantasy novel would agree that they could read it again. Everyone, I’d like to think, who sees this adaptation at The Watermill will agree that they could see it again. And again.

STRATEGIC LOVE PLAY at the Soho Theatre

★★★★★

“Miriam Battye’s script is refreshingly honest and bitingly funny”

“This play is funny, and unusual and feels extremely modern”

STRATEGIC LOVE PLAY at the Soho Theatre

Reviewed on 7th September 2023

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Pamela Raith

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Strategic Love Play

Strategic Love Play

THE LORD OF THE RINGS at the Watermill Theatre

★★★★★

“The nuances of the characters are beautifully executed, particularly up close on the small stage.”

“Each member of the cast deserves mention, and each could threaten to steal the show”