“showcases both promising writing and promising performance, in a touching tale of love, division and growing up”
At a house party, an unlikely couple meet for the first time. There’s the age gap (Jack is 19, Katie is 22), the class gap (Jack’s from Essex, Katie’s comes from a rich family) and the geography gap (Katie is at Bristol University). Katie is studying philosophy and she doesn’t have a plan. Jack wants to go into finance and dreams of a house, kids, a car – so he says – though Katie is more interested in his passion for photography. This is a story about the effect of our background on our political ideologies and future plans, about two people in a relationship going down distinctly different paths, but ultimately it is a story about connection, and about holding onto these connections no matter what.
Lauren Cooney as Katie exudes warmth, and fills the space with a relaxed and playful energy that is impossible not to catch. She delivers the nuances of Katie’s character with ease and commits to every moment. Brad Johnson plays Jack, and is also the writer of the piece. Johnson’s performance is competent but he isn’t able to match Cooney’s warmth and ease, and never seems to quite relax into the space or the character. From a writing point of view, Johnson’s story is relatable and contemporary, and adds a politically conscious edge to an honest and human portrayal of a young relationship. A moment of dance amongst an otherwise naturalistic script feels slightly discordant, but otherwise the piece is coherent and well-crafted, taking us through the couples’ pivotal moments together, balancing moments of love with moments of strain in which both characters are simultaneously likeable yet flawed.
Sophia Pardon’s set is ever-changing. Wooden boxes morph into sofas and tables and out of each come duvets and vases and beer bottles as the play spans across five years. At the back of the space, costumes hang on rails and the actors throw on outfit after outfit. The changeovers are a little clumsy as a result of all this moving and changing. Clear effort has been made to remedy this, with interactions between the actors as they dress, often in time to the music but these frequently feel one sided, initiated and committed to by Cooney with limited reciprocation from Johnson.
‘Unicorn’ showcases both promising writing and promising performance, in a touching tale of love, division and growing up.
“Raw and evocative allowing the play’s contrast between romance and bloodshed to flourish”
Set in a small English village where day to day life is shattered by the impact of the Somme, Last Man Standing jumps between the childish bickering of the past, and the life or death reality of war.
Following the interwoven stories of seven men and women who grew up together, the play focuses predominantly on Tom Dawson, played by the hugely talented Josh Milner. Tom is portrayed as a defiant young man through and through, with a strong sense of justice and a fierce loyalty to his friends, as well as to his love, Jenny. He spends his days alongside pals Joe (played by fellow standout Ben Cooper) and Stanley, often fighting with Edmund Carrington, the cowardly upper class boy with his eye on Jenny. After the men go off to war, Jenny and Peggy are left behind to pick up the pieces of their lives, and attempt to cope with their new reality.
The show was originally devised as a two hour linear piece for a cast of about 65 students for a school production based on some of their own work. Jude Cole subsequently rewrote it for a cast of seven and took it to the Edinburgh fringe. This latest rewrite, lengthening the Edinburgh show, now bears very little resemblance to the original production but still retains its meaning.
The set is stunning in its simplicity. Leaves decorating the ceiling, leading into barbed wire cascading down onto the stage, coiling around wooden crates. Raw and evocative allowing the play’s contrast between romance and bloodshed to flourish.
As the play goes on, the battles between the characters escalate, with the love triangle constantly bubbling beneath the surface. For a running time of around an hour and a half, Last Man Standing manages to bring almost everyone a solid sense of character development. Secrets are revealed throughout the narrative, further explaining the reasons behind the varied loyalties and enemies within the group, as well as giving the audience a chance to delve deeper into the characters themselves.
In the last twenty minutes of the play, it seems to go off track, jolting through time skips and becoming less grounded. This is no reflection on the actors, a fantastic ensemble who brilliantly created the world on stage, but rather of the script itself. The last few moments of the play do seem to have echoes of the original Year Eleven contributors. However, taking that into account, this show is a triumph.
Directed by Courtney Larkin, the play truly does have a solid grounding, especially in our current political climate, with the threat of war constantly in our headlines. Emotional and raw, Last Man standing was a delight to watch.
