★★★★

“a beautifully told love story”

Firebird by Richard Hough tells the story of Sergey Fetisov during the 1970s in occupied Estonia, and how he fell in love with fighter pilot Roman Matvejev. Due to homophobic attitudes in the soviet regime – still present today – they’re ability to keep their love secret is challenging and ends up splitting Roman and Sergey’s life into pieces.

Hough succeeds in adapting the previously made screenplay of the same name of this story into a well crafted and succinct 90 minute stage play. The pacing of the action is good and doesn’t linger on any unnecessary details. Immediately introducing the three central characters via a play boxing fight before a radio recording of the news at the time, established both the key points of the characters’ relationship dynamics, as well as the context of the time period. Despite the play being based on Sergey’s memoir; Roman was framed as the central character – depicting how he was likely central to Sergey’s life. Roman follows Sergey through his life throughout the story, but it is always Roman who leads the way. Robert Eades plays Roman with an incredible sense of optimism wrapped around a straight backed matter-of-fact and blunt approach. This contrasts with Theo Walker’s Sergey, who is often nervous and confused, yet innately curious and controversial. I did find I often struggled to see romantic or sexual chemistry from the pair. The initial kiss felt stiff and out of nowhere due to not seeing any flirting or hints to their attraction previously. In the end, however, their love is believable and creates some wonderfully touching moments.

Another key component in Roman’s wild affairs is Luisa Jannsen, played by Sorcha Kennedy. Kennedy is incredibly engaging in her performance, I was often drawn closely to her eyes and found a whole world of truth and emotion deep within them. Nigel Hastings also stands out as Colonel Alexei Kuznestov, with excellent focus, poignant intention and a flare with the rhythm of the text. All are complemented by Owen Lewis’ direction which manages to make an intimate staging feel massive with an incredible use of space, that manages to glide through different locations and times with ease. Clancy Flynn’s lighting design must also be praised at this point, often fading between warm or cool tones to indicate different locations based on their atmospheric tone. There was also one sequence where various colourful lights were used to portray fireworks, which then quickly transitioned to an explosion. A subtle yet effective portrayal of the events moving forward. The same can be said of Gregor Donnelly’s design, with the use of a simple set that leaves the stage pretty much bare asides a few pieces of furniture: two stage-like wooden blocks, a few chairs, a desk. All of which are transported throughout the piece as and when needed, achieving the same goal of making the intimate staging feel larger than it is.

Overall, Firebird is a beautifully told love story that shows how happiness can be found in human connection in spite of all the challenges put against it.

UNION at the Arcola Theatre

★★★

“amongst the yelling and huffing, there are a lot of poignant and heartfelt moments in Union”

Given the state liberal politics is currently in, it’s understandable there would be a sense of panicked urgency in trying to get an important message across; the time for nuance is over, the time for yelling is now. But didactic theatre, which this ends up being, isn’t super fun for a few reasons: Firstly, no-one likes being yelled at for 90 minutes. Sure, art isn’t always pleasant, but it is supposed to be affective, and after a while this starts to feel less like theatre and more like a public service announcement.

Secondly, if you’ve got a leftist agenda, sermonising to an off-west end theatre audience is likely preaching to the choir. I can’t imagine many passionate capitalists are signing up to see a play about a big-time property developer having a moral crisis. That being said, amongst the yelling and huffing, there are a lot of poignant and heartfelt moments in Union.

Saskia is at the peak of her career. She’s about to sign her biggest development deal which will potentially lead to partnership. But in a moment of insanity- or clarity- she flees the meeting before signing, changes into her very expensive Lycra gear and decides to run the many miles home through London, meeting a plethora of colourful characters along the way, each with a little lesson to impart.

Writer Max Wilkinson’s 2021 play Rainer feels very much like the seed for Union: One main character flies through London, clearly having a breakdown and meeting all sorts on her journey. But where Rainer was focused on a singular experience of personal trauma, Union uses Saskia’s meltdown to convey a much bigger issue: the capitalist sterilisation of big cities. This feels like a more interesting use of the trope, and the script itself feels more sophisticated.

Director Wiebke Green’s recent credits include Philip Ridley’s Poltergeist, The Beast Will Rise, and Tarantula. There’s a definite link between Union and old hand Ridley’s works, but it’s hard to know how much comes from the writing and how much the production. Union has the same non-stop intensity, the same amped up spiralling and the same inevitable ‘big reveal’ when the audience learns a crucial piece of information that explains the aforementioned spiralling, all of which have become Ridley’s trademarks. It’s affecting, sure, but it’s also a bit formulaic now. And just as I found it hard to focus during Ridley’s 85-minute rant Poltergeist last year, I find Union too consistently high-strung to remain interested.

Maintaining this level of high-energy performance, though, is undoubtedly impressive. Dominique Tipper as Saskia never lets up, pounding the stage and virtually spitting out her dialogue throughout. She’s convincing as both the cutthroat corporatist and the wavering moralist. When she leaps back into her teenage past she avoids that often cloying, babyish performance so many people give, and instead presents young Saskia as fully formed if still malleable and vulnerable to sinister forces.

As it happens, set and costume designer Kit Hinchcliffe also worked on Ridley’s Poltergeist, but where there was only one character to dress, and no costume changes, in this production she’s had a little more opportunity to stretch herself. All costume changes happen in full view, with the help of two very full clothing racks. This keeps all the energy on stage, rather than any hurried exits and entries. And given you couldn’t very well design the whole of Regent’s Canal, Hinchcliffe has opted for a near empty stage, and the visible unworn costumes give a little colour to the production.

While this might easily have been a one-person play, with Tipper merely jumping between characters, we have the added pleasure of Sorcha Kennedy and Andre Bullock playing all the bit parts as well as giving live sound effects such as panicked heavy breathing and crying babies. For the most part, this works really well, giving an extra dimension to an otherwise singular voice, and also creating the impression that Saskia is being watched- not just by an audience of 100, but by judging parties in her own world.

Both Kennedy and Bullock are excellent chameleons, using quick costume changes to transform into any number of people. The only time it doesn’t quite fit is with Saskia’s husband Leon. Where every other character is enjoyably cartoonish in comparison to the multi-faceted Saskia, Leon should really be slightly more detailed in order for their complicated alliance to make sense, and this just isn’t possible when Kennedy is switching characters in 30 seconds with the mere addition of a hat and glasses.

The aggressive development of London, or as one character says, the turning of the world in to “one big f*cking Pret” is a real and scary issue. Wilkinson has, in a lot of ways, hit the nail on the head. It’s just that he’s hit it a little too hard.

FIREBIRD

King’s Head Theatre

★★★★

“a beautifully told love story”

FIREBIRD

King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed on 21st January 2025

by David Robinson

Photography by Geraint Lewis

Previously reviewed at this venue:

FIREBIRD

FIREBIRD

FIREBIRD

UNION at the Arcola Theatre

★★★

“amongst the yelling and huffing, there are a lot of poignant and heartfelt moments in Union”

UNION at the Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 25th July 2023

by Miriam Sallon

Photography by Lidia Crisafulli

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Union

Union