Soho Theatre Archives - Page 22 of 36

Citysong

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 14th June 2019

★★★★

“The devilishly witty and highly complex poetic rhythms entice you in”

Winner of the 2017 Verity Bargate Award for new-writers, author Dylan Coburn Gray brings his love letter to Dublin on to the London stage.

Citysong began its life as a commission for a spoken word festival. It tells the story of three generations of a Dublin family on one day and passes through time as the characters reflect and reminisce. The play starts off with a taxi driver telling us of his fares and their reason for journeying around the City, he speaks of his family and we see Dublin through his eyes, until the story effortlessly moves to another inhabitant. We have lovely scenes with keenly focussed observations on first love, meeting the parents, teenage awkwardness and a delightful moment in a delivery ward to name but a few. It reflects everyday people, “Everyone belongs in a city and yet everyone is only passing through”.

Set designer (Sarah Bacon) has given us a stripped-back, bare set apart from a few nondescript chairs and tables and a stunning abstract, fractured glass backdrop in the shape of Dublin and its coastline. When a piece of this crashed to the stage ten minutes before curtain up, I was left on tenterhooks every time an actor came through the door within this structure. Thankfully all was well and I hope there are no issues moving forward as the reflections and light coming from this backdrop are utterly unique. Sound (Adrienne Quartly) has an almost constant single note, similar, although lower in tone to when you run your finger around the top of a glass, occasionally it breaks into a tune before correcting itself. This and a constant high screen of dry ice and moody lighting (Paul Keogan) add to the atmosphere.

Director (Caitríona McLaughlin) has lovingly passed this script to a six-strong ensemble. She has created some delightful shapes on a fairly limited space and allowed the actors to express themselves. A cast of just six (Amy Conroy, Daryl McCormack, Jade Jordan, Blaithín MacGabhann, Clare McKenna and Dan Monaghan) playing sixty characters is a heck of a challenge. But without exception, each of them proves themself to be highly versatile, a pair of glasses here, a baseball cap there and you are with them immediately. Everyone has their time to shine and they are all a joy to watch, only on a couple of rare occasions did a small characterisation fall slightly flat.

The play is described as a “Modern day Dublin’s Under Milk Wood”. I hope it shakes off this tag, as it is more than able to stand on its own two feet. The staging is fascinating, the acting is delightful, but the real star is the script itself. The devilishly witty and highly complex poetic rhythms entice you in, wrap you in a warm, comfortable blanket and at the end, gently put you to one side with a satisfied smile on your face. This really is an absolute delight.

Reviewed by Chris White

Photography by Ros Kavanagh

Citysong

Soho Theatre until 6th July

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Garrett Millerick: Sunflower | ★★★★ | February 2019

Soft Animals | ★★★★ | February 2019

Angry Alan | ★★★★ | March 2019

William Andrews: Willy | ★★★★★ | April 2019

Does My Bomb Look Big In This? | ★★★★ | May 2019

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

★★★★

“provocative, creative, and a joy to watch”

It’s not easy to tell an important story, especially when everyone else wants to tell it for you.

Nyla Levy was tired of playing the “Jihadi Bride” in projects that neither knew nor cared about the experiences of such women. In Does My Bomb Look Big in This? she not only reclaims that narrative, but revamps it entirely. About five minutes into Aisha’s explanation of why her best friend Yasmin ended up in Syria, Yasmin herself storms onstage and demands to be involved. ‘This is my story,’ she complains, ‘and you’re telling it boringly.’ The cast take note, and the ninety minutes that follows is an effortlessly funny, affecting, and self-aware piece of theatre.

The friendship between the two girls is the core of this story. Halema Hussain (Aisha) and Nyla Levy (Yasmin) share a strong chemistry that makes their innate understanding of each other feel completely natural. It is this bond that facilitates the eloquent discussions of religious, racial, and political identity that permeate the play. Levy does not demonise or judge the girls for their actions; both performers invite empathy and understanding. The fact that they perform in front of their school lockers is a reminder of how out of their depth they truly are.

But the best moments are those in which both the script and the actors are aware of the fact that this is a performance. The highlight was when Actor Three (enlisted to play all the white characters – brilliantly portrayed by Eleanor Williams) breaks out of character to express her disappointment that ‘every character I play is so one dimensional’. What starts as a parody of white privilege ends with Actor Three being ordered, by Yasmin, to wear a hijab and play the role of Yasmin’s mum. This provocative decision not only forces Actor Three to confront her ignorant sense of entitlement, but forces white audience members to do the same. Once again, Levy makes us aware of how little these stories belong to us and – for all our apparent wokeness – how minimal our understanding of British Asian experience is.

When staff at the Soho Theatre announced that the house was open for this show, the ‘edgy’ title seemed to shock some of those around me. The apparent surprise that such a show exists reinforces the importance of Does My Bomb Look Big in This? – which, for the record, I wouldn’t call ‘edgy’; that would imply a lack of substance. I would call it provocative, creative, and a joy to watch.

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

Photography by Bettina Adela

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 14th June 2019

★★★★

“The devilishly witty and highly complex poetic rhythms entice you in”

Winner of the 2017 Verity Bargate Award for new-writers, author Dylan Coburn Gray brings his love letter to Dublin on to the London stage.

Reviewed by Chris White

Photography by Ros Kavanagh

Citysong

Soho Theatre until 6th July

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 22nd May 2019

★★★★

“provocative, creative, and a joy to watch”

It’s not easy to tell an important story, especially when everyone else wants to tell it for you.

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

Photography by Bettina Adela

Does my Bomb Look Big in This?

Soho Theatre until 8th June

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: