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The Hive

Hoxton Hall

Reviewed – 7th July 2022

★★★

“Harvey Brough’s score is delightfully off-kilter, full of long lush dissonances and juxtaposing peppy beats”

A verbatim opera about serial killers is a mad idea. But it’s just the sort of mad idea that, with the right creative team, could be gloriously mad.

Indeed, we’re treated to a chorus of the finest operatic talent, and a carefully curated ensemble of two violins, a viola, cello, flute, piano, (perfectly gentle) percussionist, and harp. Harvey Brough’s score is delightfully off-kilter, full of long lush dissonances and juxtaposing peppy beats, and Hoxton Hall- with the help of evidence bags hanging from the ceiling, and police tape criss-crossing around the theatre- feels haunted and full of secrets: the ideal back-drop for a scary story.

But the script, the thing that one would hope had inspired all this brilliance, is staggeringly muddled, to the point that one wonders how all this talent came to be involved.

Beginning at a Royal Forensic Psychiatrists’ Conference, one doctor takes centre stage to discuss psychopaths, in particular female psychopaths. As an example, he relays the case of a killing duo, Hansel and Gretel, which is then acted out for us. But it’s not entirely obvious who did what to whom or why, and further than a feeling that this is indeed a sinister story, the audience is left desperately trying to catch a phrase here or there that might explain the narrative in more detail.

The humour is off- it feels frumpy, and gives the impression of a poor attempt at modernising an old story, when this is, in fact, new writing. There seem to be multiple perspectives but it’s never really explained who they are, and, combined with the fact it’s quite hard to hear sometimes (as is tradition in opera, they’ve opted for no mics), it’s easier to just cling to the main plot and hope we gain a bit of clarity later.

The second half is tangled up with a bizarre fairy-tale adaptation: Red Riding Hood is kidnapped by Hansel, who is also the Wolf, and taken back to the home he shares with Gretel. The huntsman turns up and thinks about intervening, but changes his mind, and then at some point we’re back in the courtroom of the earlier story. It feels like filler, which is absolutely not necessary when a show is already running at 2 hours and 20 minutes. Why not just keep it short and sweet with one act?

The fairy-tale names are confusing from the get. The choices of Hansel and Gretel, a fictional brother and sister, are bizarre, along with their daughter Rapunzel, one of their victims named Beauty and her sister Maid Marian. I don’t get it. And, assuming these aren’t their real names, how can this be verbatim?

There are occasional moments in the script that hint at what this show might have been. A chorus singing and harmonising, “Drown the bitch, the dirty witch. Dunk her again, she’s still breathing” is piercingly warped, and Gretel’s simpering defence of “they said I was like a mother to them, I brought them cups of tea”, repeated to the point of mockery, is deliciously dark.

But for the most part, you would be better off just enjoying the vivid, strange and tormenting score, and the masterful musicianship. In fact, it is totally worth it for this alone. You just have to ignore what they’re saying.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

The Hive

One night only – work in progress production

Hoxton Hall

Recently reviewed by Miriam:

Two Billion Beats | ★★★½ | Orange Tree Theatre | February 2022

Anyone Can Whistle | ★★★★ | Southwark Playhouse | April 2022

For Black Boys … | ★★★★★ | Royal Court Theatre | April 2022

Project Dictator | ★★½ | New Diorama Theatre | April 2022

Witness For The Prosecution | ★★★★★ | London County Hall | April 2022

100 Paintings | ★★ | Hope Theatre | May 2022

La Bohème | ★★★½ | King’s Head Theatre | May 2022

Y’Mam | ★★★★ | Soho Theatre | May 2022

The Fellowship | ★★★ | Hampstead Theatre | June 2022

I Can’t Hear You | ★★★★ | Theatre503 | July 2022

Click here to see our most recent reviews

The Fellowship

Hampstead Theatre

Reviewed – 28th June 2022

★★★

“Williams brings nuance and care to a conversation that often feels impossible to even broach”

The Fellowship, directed by Paulette Randall, sees writer Roy Williams return to the conversation he began with his 2021 play, Death Of England: Delroy : What does it mean to be black and British? Does it mean something different today compared to, say, twenty, or fifty years ago? Has anything changed? Is change even possible?

Three generations of one family, all living in the UK, all struggling to place themselves within a society that has historically and repeatedly tried to reject and diminish them. The trouble with this line of inquiry is not that it’s not compelling or apposite, but that it’s just so big. So, what we end up with is a near-on three-hour play that rarely takes a breather, and struggles to conclude.

Having grown up in the same hard, harsh environment, with a mother (now ailing off-stage) who came to the UK in the Windrush generation, sisters Marcia and Dawn have responded in contrast. As Marcia says, “You’re nothing but trauma, Dawn, you always have been. And I’ve always been a selfish cow.” In other words, Dawn remains an open wound, unable to heal from society’s repeated othering. Whereas Marcia has decided to take what she can, only looking out for herself. But neither have been able to truly break free.

So we look to the next generation, Dawn’s son Jermaine (Ethan Hazzard) who is in love with a white woman (Rosie Day), but unable to tell his family who consider her the enemy.

It’s an excellent structure for a discussion on racism, inherited trauma, and generational change. But Williams seems incapable of letting a thought hang in the air. Instead, every conversation is double as long as it should be, tracing and retracing what he said, what she said, what everyone did and when they did it. Three hours of yelling ends up sounding like white noise after a while, and though there are plenty of endearing relational minutiae (the sisters bumping boobs, or dancing to white pop music) latticed amongst the intensity, it’s all delivered at the same turbulent place; there’s rarely a minute to breathe.

Cherrelle Skeete and Suzette Llewellyn have an excellent rapport as sisters, which is all the more impressive given that Skeete has only been rehearsing this part for two weeks- Lucy Vandi had to suddenly withdraw due to ill health. In fact, despite occasional scenes holding the script, Skeete is arguably the strongest cast member, flitting between affection and intense rage with veristic ease.

Libby Watson’s design- Scandi sofas and table encircled by a futuristic LED halo, which glows blue or red in accordance with instructions for Alexa- serves as a clean, modern canvas for the chaotic storyline, and sits in clever contrast to the script’s subject, as old as time: Us and Them.

Williams brings nuance and care to a conversation that often feels impossible to even broach. The casting is clever and fun, and there are multiple moments where the audience finds themselves humming in endorsement. But ultimately it just doesn’t feel finished yet; the script needs a red pen and a harsh eye.

Hoxton Hall

Reviewed – 7th July 2022

★★★

“Harvey Brough’s score is delightfully off-kilter, full of long lush dissonances and juxtaposing peppy beats”

A verbatim opera about serial killers is a mad idea. But it’s just the sort of mad idea that, with the right creative team, could be gloriously mad.

But the script, the thing that one would hope had inspired all this brilliance, is staggeringly muddled, to the point that one wonders how all this talent came to be involved.

But for the most part, you would be better off just enjoying the vivid, strange and tormenting score, and the masterful musicianship. In fact, it is totally worth it for this alone. You just have to ignore what they’re saying.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

The Hive

One night only – work in progress production

Hoxton Hall

Recently reviewed by Miriam:

Hampstead Theatre

Reviewed – 28th June 2022

★★★

“Williams brings nuance and care to a conversation that often feels impossible to even broach”

So we look to the next generation, Dawn’s son Jermaine (Ethan Hazzard) who is in love with a white woman (Rosie Day), but unable to tell his family who consider her the enemy.

Libby Watson’s design- Scandi sofas and table encircled by a futuristic LED halo, which glows blue or red in accordance with instructions for Alexa- serves as a clean, modern canvas for the chaotic storyline, and sits in clever contrast to the script’s subject, as old as time: Us and Them.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by Robert Day

The Fellowship

Hampstead Theatre until 23rd July

Previously reviewed at this venue: