Every person is a few decisions away from having a completely different life

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

The Fear of 13 : Donmar Warehouse

I'd always wanted to go the Donmar Warehouse, but you have to get in early for the tickets because they go quickly and I've always failed to do so - but this time I managed to book for TWO things, with this being picked entirely on the basis of it having Adrien Brody in it. 

And so last night I found myself desperately wandering around the edges of Covent Garden trying to find enough mobile signal to get maps up on my phone to find the bloody place! I knew I knew pretty much where it was, but both the theatre and mobile signal were proving stubbornly elusive as the deadline approached. Fortunately a kind doorman at The Cambridge Theatre pointed me in the right direction - given they are approximately 30 seconds apart, it was surprising how the rest of his colleagues had never heard of the place!

But I made it to my seat with a whole five minutes to spare and, given I was in the back row, I was still surprisingly close to the stage - I can see why people are so keen on this place. For this play, the stage set-up was such that the front set of seats were actually between the two stages, which must have made for quite the immersive experience.

The play is based on the real-life case of Nick Yarris who spent 22 years on death row in the US after being found wrongly guilty of murder. Nick, is of course, played by Adrien and most of the rest of the cast are male, normally playing prisoners or guards but also taking alternative roles as required. The only female cast member is Nana Mensah, who plays Jackie, a volunteer prison visitor who (would you believe it?) gets closer to Nick as the play progresses. 

It's an interesting story (Nick was the first prisoner to ask for DNA review of evidence) which is mostly narrated by Nick and told in a charismatic way - he has been given a round-about way of approaching the point and Adrien portrays this well. He has long periods of just him on stage to explain his situation which give him the opportunity to show off his talent - and, to be fair to him, he totally does. He also gets to stand in a shower in his underpants for a bit, which wasn't at all what I expected. Nana Mensah also does a good job - their relationship is believable (as much as a somewhat unbelievable but true relationship can feel) and the rest of the cast do a good job with multiple roles, which are managed well because they're not in the slightest bit confusing.

The setting is well done - the centre of the stage is (for the most part) Nick's cell and the outer stage and the back of the stage (either in darkness or lit behind windows) representing the outside world and the director has done a good job of moving things around without confusing us too much. The cast also, for no obvious reason, take opportunities to sing - which is weird, but they sing so nicely that I let them off!

When I go to see a play, I like it to have a story which comes to some kind of a conclusion (an open-ended conclusion is perfectly acceptable, but it has to end), opportunities for the actors to impress through long monologues/emotional delivery and some clever technical/stylistic details - and I have to say this was good on all fronts. I couldn't say it delivered enough on any front to be outstanding, but it was a very enjoyable night out and it was a worthy "star vehicle" which meant I felt I wasn't short-changed by the big name casting. 

It would certainly be a recommendation from me but, giving it's at the Donmar, the tickets sold out months ago - sorry! I think my main take-away from the evening is that (probably no matter what the production) the place is worth the effort to get tickets for because it's a lovely intimate theatre. The tickets were expensive to what I normally pay, but they were very good value compared to what I'd pay to get so close to any cast in another theatre, let alone such a well known name - I'm very much looking forward to heading back there next year.

Oedipus - Some fine acting indeed
Oedipus - With added dancing!