90 minutes of New York angst seems a very long time in Michael John Lachiusa’s 2003 musical, receiving its European premiere at this tiny theatre. Suggested by short stories written by Deborah Eisenberg (herself the partner of Wallace Shawn, another American writer specialising in introspective self-analysis) it owes a debt to Rent and to Stephen Sondheim, but there’s neither sufficient wit nor insight to carry this short running time.
The playing space has been reconfigured – with an effective four-piece band perched high behind the blue-grey narrow stage where Julia Worsley’s Charlotte tries to give up smoking and make sense of her life since she arrived in the Big Apple. Escaping from a critical boyfriend (whose disparaging remarks haunt her in every subsequent venture) she takes up residence with coke-head Cinder (Alana Maria, whose animated presence demands a bigger stage), goes swimming at the YMCA and doesn’t do much else apart from wallow in her lack of ability to get on with her life, fulfil her ambition to be a writer, or do anything positive.
There’s a lively cameo by Ashley Campbell as a narcissistic flirt she almost steals from new friend Kathy, and a creepy one by Nick Holder as a lecherous older man, but sadly the performances struggle against the uninvolving, fragmented nature of the material and it’s hard to care whether Charlotte finally succeeds in swimming with the tide or is destined to be a sad, lone fish for ever.
Finborough Theatre, Finborough Rd, SW10 9ED. Tube: Earl’s Court (0844 847 1652). Until Nov 21. £14-£18
No comments:
Post a Comment