by Richy Hughes, Joseph Finlay and Michael Conley.
Based on an original idea by Richy Hughes.
Michael Rouse stars in the world premiere of this one-man musical, which is the first musical to play in Southwark Playhouse’s Little space.
The Superhero, written by Richy Hughes, Joseph Finlay and Michael Conley and directed by Adam Lenson plays from 28 June – 22 July 2017.
Production includes Stiles and Drew Prize-winning song Don’t Look Down.
‘Good afternoon, your honour. I’m Colin Bradley. I’m here today to ask you, your honour, not to let Christine Davis, my ex-wife, move out of the country with Emily Bradley, my daughter.’
Colin and Christine split up five years ago. Now Christine is taking their daughter to Los Angeles with her new job, and there’s nothing Colin can do about it. Or is there?
Including ‘Don’t Look Down’, the Stiles and Drew Prize-winning song, The Superhero is a new one man musical by Richy Hughes (Mr Popper’s Penguins), Michael Conley (The Sorrows of Satan) and Joseph Finlay (This Is Also England), and directed by Adam Lenson (Songs for a New World) that asks, how far would you go to see your child?
Michael Rouse plays Colin Bradley. His theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, The Winter’s Tale, Harlequinade (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company at the Garrick), Three Men in a Boat (UK Tour), Carousel (Barbican), Matilda (RSC), Oklahoma (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Lord of the Rings (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Dona Rosita: The Spinster (Orange Tree Theatre), The Boy Friend (Regent’s Park Open Air) and Saturday Night Fever (London Palladium). Michael has sung live on BBC Radio 2 and as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic, and the London Philharmonic Orchestras. Film and television credits include Murder on the Orient Express (20th Century Fox) 24: Live Another Day (Fox), Alien Autopsy (Qwerty Films), Mary Queen of Scots (BBC) and The Man Who Knew too Little (Luna Productions).
Info
THE SUPERHERO
Wednesday 28 June – Saturday 22 July 2017
Monday to Saturday at 8pm Tuesday matinees at 3.30pm Saturday matinees at 3.30pm
“Impressively staged, but ultimately disappointing”
The Diary of a Teenage Girl is based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner. Now the thing with graphic novels is the author not only provides the words but also the pictures to allow the reader to interpret the storyline in their own way, yet providing them with the basic look of the characters and settings.
The concept of a graphic novel is therefore much harder to translate into a stage work than say just a novel on its own. Steer away too much from the artist’s original character led drawings and you risk losing fan base. Stick too closely to them, and it’s all a little too safe and predictable. It’s a hard thing to get right.
The film of the work received mainly good reviews, but that genre allowed much more deep exploration of the characters – so whilst sticking to Gloeckner’s original look and feel of 1970s San Francisco, it managed to add an extra dimension making it gritty and real.
The show at the Southwark Playhouse is delivered, as short scenes based around the diary entries of Minnie (Rona Morison). Minnie is only fifteen and in the throws of her sexual awakening, she flirts and ends up in a sexual relationship with Monroe (Jamie Wilkes), her mother’s on-off boyfriend. The play hints that Monroe may have instigated the relationship, but it’s clear Minnie is the one that feels strongest about it.
This could easily be a modern day tale of child abuse and grooming. Delivered as ‘comedy’ it is a little unsettling to watch at times. With her drug taking mother Charlotte (Rebecca Trehearn), oblivious to what’s happening with her daughter, this could also be interpreted as a tale of neglect.
Whilst the original novel is about the sexual awakening of Minnie, there is a lot more content in it than the play shows. This adaptation chooses to focus wholly on the sexual parts of the story and as such fails to give any real background to a lot of the scenes or give us any real in depth understanding of the characters, other than Minnie.
It is impressively staged in ‘The Little’ – a credit to the set, lighting, sound and video designers involved. The actors deliver their lines well, with Rona Morison and Jamie Wilkes being particularly impressive. But ultimately this show is just ‘OK’, rather than anything remarkable. With the content of the novel, it could have been adapted to be something much more gripping and gritty. A little disappointing.
