★★★★★

“a timeless and emotive piece of theatre, perfectly silly and sensitive”

This is a 10 year anniversary revival of a beautiful piece that has lost none of its composure. Captain Amazing is a tour de force of storytelling, with Mark Weinman nimbly navigating over 10 different characters across the piece. His range is extraordinary, and the show would be worth seeing just for this performance.

Each character is remarkably well executed with Weinman using his full physicality, and the bright red cape he dons throughout, to embody everyone from a downtrodden DIY sales assistant (also called Mark), to his little girl Emily, to an estate agent for superheroes. This means that though there are plenty of laugh out loud physical comedy skits, the emotional weight of the final third lands exactly where it needs to.

The plot follows a slightly hapless man through a relationship, accidental parenthood, and the early years of developing a relationship with his daughter. Interspersed between this story are vignettes featuring Captain Amazing, a superhero who can fly and shoot lasers from his eyes. These are initially the source of much of the comedy in the piece; the tumble drier ruining a superhero costume was a highlight. But the fooling around also gives way to some bigger questions, even from the dastardly Evil Man who asks how on earth he is meant to be good if everyone expects him to be evil.

Alistair McDowall’s accomplished script then leads the audience through the worst loss imaginable. This is sensitively and simply done, focussing on Mark and Emily’s connection throughout a huge challenge.

Mark’s navigation through grief is then contrasted with superhero scenes of Captain Amazing struggling to find time to talk with other superhero mates. Both Mark and Captain Amazing start to unravel in a spiral of pain through the sense of isolation and disconnection. However, the piece ends with a chink of hope, with the audience left on an uplifting note without being mawkish.

Designer Georgia de Grey has done an incredible job with the deceptively simple set. A backdrop provides the exaggerated perspective of a room, and is covered in what looks like plain white papier mache. It becomes a canvass for childish comic book illustrations which punctuate Weinman’s performance, leaving an indelible record of his memory on stage. Lighting (carefully used by Will Monks) then is dialled up to increase and decrease the contrast during the superhero scenes, but never entirely fades away, especially as the lines get blurred between fantasy and reality in the denouement.

With only one man and one red chair on stage, Director Clive Judd creates hugely engaging worlds in both reality and the fantasy realm, which for the fantastical subject matter are also instantly recognisable. For a piece that ultimately navigates bereavement, Captain Amazing also revels in joy and escapism. I can see why it already has a ten year history. This is a timeless and emotive piece of theatre, perfectly silly and sensitive.

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★★

“Alex Hill is outstanding. He performs the role of Billy with such energy and dynamism it’s exhausting just to watch”

Ever wondered what might cause a man to do something as reckless as sticking a flare up his bum at the World Cup final? In the appropriately titled Why I stuck a Flare Up my Arse for England, writer, performer and producer Alex Hill gives us his interpretation which is funny, charming and surprisingly heartfelt all at once.

Hill introduces us to Billy Kinley, a kid from southwest London who grows up with an inherited love for the game. He and his best mate Adam are football mad – kicking about in the park and attending local club AFC Wimbledon weekly. When they leave school, Adam gets a job in the City whilst Billy works at the hairdressers run by his parents, but they still meet at the local café every week for a full English before the game. Then they meet ‘the King’ of the old firm, inexplicably named Winegum, and his equally obtusely named mates. Billy gets stuck in with the boozing, coke, and fighting, but Adam is reticent and their friendship starts to change.

There’s a lot that’s only briefly touched on, or left entirely unsaid: about Billy and Adam’s relationship but also about Billy’s grief over his mum’s death, and his burgeoning relationship with Daisy, the café’s waitress. Whilst this may slightly hamper the exposition, it certainly adds to the sense that Billy is coasting through life, not thinking too deeply about anyone or anything, just to get by. It’s intelligently and intentionally emotionally shallow, right up until the closing moments.

Alex Hill is outstanding. He performs the role of Billy with such energy and dynamism it’s exhausting just to watch. Under Sean Turner’s direction, Hill darts across the stage from pillar to post; necks not one, but two pints (the second largely, excusably, going down his front); and essentially barely takes a breath throughout. Hill even dials the energy up to eleven after taking his first line and having a rager at Infernos; or when he gets into his first fight and keeps punching until white noise takes over; or when the drum beat of Match Day, pints, gear, fight builds to a climax. Props must also be given to his script, littered with wry observations and rhetorical devices that keep the audience tittering throughout.

For a one man, one hour long show there are a surprising number of locations, each subtly situated with expert lighting, sound and stage design. Designer Joel Clements’ immediately sets the tone with distressed England flags of various shapes and sizes stitched together to form an almost quilted backdrop. Matt Cater’s lighting design expertly delivers, making the most of the full rig of the Southwark Playhouse. Together with sound designer Sam Baxter, the full design of this show leads to particular moments of playfulness – for example where a pool table appears on stage from a green rectangular gobo; or when the lights come up on the audience and strings of fairy lights appear accompanied by the sound of tuning strings with Alex as Billy shimmying into a seat at a West End theatre.

This interplay between theatre and football is skilfully observed by Hill. It’s a theme that’s definitely in vogue as evidenced by the abundance of football themed theatre of late. The National Theatre’s blockbuster ‘Dear England’ and the Bush Theatre’s ‘Red Pitch’ both received stellar reviews from this site. As Hill uses Billy to point out, it’s perhaps the theatricality and the drama of the game that makes football ripe for interpretation on the stage. But more than that, for men in particular, football is also the primary source of community and friendship in their lives – making it a thoroughly apt way to explore the contemporary male psyche. For a piece with such a plainly humorous title it’s a surprisingly multi-layered exploration of masculinity, friendship, romantic relationships and family.

CAPTAIN AMAZING at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★★

“a timeless and emotive piece of theatre, perfectly silly and sensitive”

CAPTAIN AMAZING at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 2nd May 2024

by Rosie Thomas

Photography by Ali Wright

Previously reviewed at this venue:

CAPTAIN AMAZING

CAPTAIN AMAZING

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★★

“Alex Hill is outstanding. He performs the role of Billy with such energy and dynamism it’s exhausting just to watch”

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 22nd April 2024

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Rah Petherbridge

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND