“Spies Like Us can count on a loyal following for this, and future, productions”
Spies Like Us’ adaptation of Graham Greene’s acclaimed satirical novel is a sixty minute romp of intense physical acting that relies on split second timing, and intricate choreography. The cast of five, three men and two women, take on a variety of roles that include vacuum cleaner salesmen, country club daughters, British intelligence agents, Cuban secret policemen, airplane pilots, cabaret dancers, and mysterious German doctors. They also create planes, cars, horses—and do a lot of dancing. It’s a dazzling display of all the things humans can imitate with their bodies, assisted by various bits of a vacuum cleaner. It’s funny, as well.
If you haven’t read the novel (or seen the film starring Alec Guinness) the plot goes something like this. Vacuum cleaner salesman Jim Wormold, beset by money worries that only the parent of a teenage daughter can appreciate, agrees to work for British Intelligence as a way of earning extra money. Tasked with building a network of spies, and clueless about the actual work involved, Wormold decides to invent his network, and fake the intelligence reports. Events take a strange turn, however, when his imaginary agents are confused with real people. Soon Wormold is running around Havana trying to save their lives, assisted by the lovely Beatrice—who has been sent by his handlers in Whitehall to keep an eye on him.
Spies Like Us is a young company, formed of recent university graduates and the Young Pleasance theatre company. They cut their performing teeth at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the Pleasance. The VAULT Festival is exactly the right place for their blend of energy and inventiveness. For Our Man in Havana, they don’t need sets, or costumes. The performers are all dressed in tan trousers and white shirts, and the only props on stage are a hat, an open suitcase and a vacuum cleaner (of course.) Director Ollie Norton Smith keeps the whole thing spinning along, and the pace barely falters throughout. He has also done a nice job of adapting Greene’s novel (assisted by Hamish Lloyd Barnes). Alex Holley plays Wormold with just the right amount of sweaty bewilderment, and Hamish Lloyd Barnes is his likeable, but bumbling British Intelligence recruiter. Tullio Campanale brings off a double act as Wormold’s friend Dr. Hasselbacker and the sinister chief of police, Captain Segura.
All in all, this is a delightful show, and if some of the fast paced choreography lacks the slick production values of a West End musical, it doesn’t matter. Spies Like Us can count on a loyal following for this, and future, productions.
“might not be a musical revolution, but it is a confident, fresh, and well-crafted show”
Adam Lenson is on a mission. Under his new production company, he’s determined to foster a whole generation of British musicals that challenge and revolutionise the form, and Stages is the first musical to be produced under that label. So, understandably, Lenson and writer/lyricist/composer Christian Czornyj must have quite a lot riding on its success – but does Stages set the bar for a new era of musicals?
The show chiefly follows teen technophile Aiden (Max Alexander-Taylor) as his life and family are thrown into disarray when his mum, Alice (Anna-Jane Casey), is diagnosed with cancer. Aiden, as well as his sister Ellie (Aitch Wylie) and father Owen (Andrew Langtree) all struggle to come to terms with the notion of losing Alice, and with the concept of not having control. This theme is taken a step further by ostensibly putting control in the audience’s hands – there are a number of moments where the audience are given the option between two different possibilities which are voted on with coloured cards. These choices range from trivial, such as what colour hoodie Aiden wears, to deeply impactful, such as whether Alice should receive treatment, and initially give the audience a sense of real agency in the story, although this is then unfortunately taken away by an unexpected plot development.
Stages goes in hard on its inspiration from video games – the music is comprised entirely of 8-bit chiptune sounds, and the back wall of the set (Libby Todd) is a video screen that generates pixellated portrayals of the setting or of relevant text. It’s a bold, creative, and characterful choice that pays off through intuitive but unobtrusive storytelling. The songs, too, contribute greatly to the thematic choices the show makes – the music will remind you of different levels of your favourite games growing up, from the tranquil tracks that’d usually involve some sort of mystical forest, to tense boss battle-esque music. Perhaps a few too many numbers favour the former style, but it’s such a unique timbre that you won’t tire of it. All the cast also deliver stellar vocals under the supervision of Tamara Saringer, with some particularly beautiful harmonies on display.
The individual performances are equally excellent, with Wylie standing out in creating an idiosyncratic and relatable older sister, and Alexander-Taylor bringing an engrossing physicality to Aiden. It feels as though the actors are sometimes wishing for a little more to chew on, as the script and lyrics stray into being a bit too simple and repetitive at times, but Lenson’s direction knows how to find the heart of every moment. Stages might not be a musical revolution, but it is a confident, fresh, and well-crafted show that delivers its narrative in a new and exciting way.
