I'll be your friend

The latest in an occasional series of play reviews...

Marvellous : @sohoplace

Well - this makes a change.  For once, I'm not making a trip out to see a new play (although it is new) but a whole new theatre!  @sohoplace has opened on Soho Place, which is the first new street name in Soho for 50 years (it's just down from Tottenham Court tube station) and I was intrigued to see what a new theatre looked like, so I would have gone to see this no matter what it was.  But I was expecting this to be pretty charming nonetheless - it's the story of Neil Baldwin, based upon the TV production of the same name, starring Toby Jones.  And he has a fascinating, if somewhat unlikely, life story.

And pretty charming is indeed what it is - it has a cast of six people of varying neurotypicality who play Neil and various characters from his life, directed by "Real Neil" (played by Mike Hugo) who appears from the audience.  And it basically follows his life from his parents meeting through to the current day, describing his various adventures using a variety of storytelling forms.  And it is indeed quite a variety - some serious and quiet and some, well, not so much.  I'm not saying it gets messy, but at one point, the stage cleaner gets a round of applause.

It is well acted - Mike Hugo does an excellent (and very believable) job in his role as Neil and is ably supported by the rest of the cast, one of whom (I can't tell you their name because I've no idea who was who) does an excellent job in doing terrible accents - I suspect it's hard to do these things badly but well.

So, it's charming and well-acted - but it's also pretty lightweight and pretty clunky in places.  It's a perfectly fine way to pass the time, but it doesn't feel like an obvious theatre opener.  My suspicion is that they went for a soft opening in case of issues - and I'm not sure they'll be offering programmes as a free download using a QR code for future presentations.

So, now we've got the play out of the way - what did I think of the theatre?  Well - it's all very smart and all very different.  Apparently the auditorium is extremely configurable, but for this show the stage was in the middle with seats on all sides on three levels.  And none of them are really far away from the stage - which was good because I'd done my usual trick of booking the cheapest seats.  

Or it would have been good - IF I HADN'T BEEN UPGRADED!!  Yeah baby - I've made it.  Third row as well - they obviously knew who I was.  Either that or they hadn't sold that many tickets - I'd say the place was about 50% full.  And, quite bizarrely, a load of the seats near me were taken up with teenage girls.  My new seat was very comfortable and the view was (unsurprisingly) good - but the sight-lines from all seats looked pretty clear.  And I've have to say the seats looked pretty fixed, so I'm intrigued as to exactly how configurable the auditorium is (but maybe I'll be surprised at a later date).  The downstairs bar is pretty snazzy too - the upstairs one somewhat less so because it feels to be in a corridor (but I'm being picky here).  What I will properly complain about is the name they gave the place - fifty quid says it'll be renamed within the next five years (and they don't even have @sohoplace on Twitter!).

But, back to being nice, I think it's a nice cosy space which felt very welcoming - and it would have been nice to see a few more people in there.  But, whilst I had a good time, I can't, in all honesty, overly recommend this play - it's enjoyable but nothing more than that.  However, I have booked to see their first performance in 2023 which is Sophie Okonedo in Medea, which I suspect might be a slightly more heavyweight production.

Walking With Ghosts - some proper acting, dah-ling!
To Kill A Mockingbird - a fine evening out