Theatre review: My Brilliant Friend

The quartet of Italian books known collectively as The Neapolitan Novels are apparently A Big Deal, and one that I had absolutely no idea existed until I heard about April De Angelis' stage adaptation (which originally played at the Rose Theatre Kingston, and now transfers in expanded form to the Olivier.) All I've really gleaned is that their author, Elena Ferrante, doesn't actually exist, being a pseudonym shrouded in secrecy. It's no doubt a huge part of the novels' popularity and mythos, given that their narrator is a popular novelist called Elena, better known as Lenù (Niamh Cusack,) who flashes us back to 1950s Naples and her first meeting with Lila (Catherine McCormack,) who stole her beloved doll and threw it into the cellar of the local mob boss. Lenù did the same to hersin revenge, and their (unsuccessful) adventure into the cellar to retrieve the dolls bonded them in a tumultuous friendship.

Theatre review: State Red

Hampstead Theatre has a police-themed programme at the moment; next week I'll be seeing the main house show, but first I'm at the studio space for Atiha Sen Gupta's State Red, which looks at both the highest levels of the Metropolitan Police, and those on the ground who have to make split-second decisions and live with the consequences. Richard (Geoff Leesley) and Joyce (Maxine Finch) return from a black tie event to find their son, Luke (Samuel Anderson) has returned after going missing for a year. Luke was in the police, but had a breakdown after fatally shooting a black teenager he thought, wrongly as it turns out, to be armed. His best friend and colleague Matthew (Toby Wharton) has been keeping an eye on Luke's parents during his absence, and has driven them home tonight. As the two friends catch up, it becomes apparent that Luke hasn't been getting over the events over the last year; instead, he's decided to add some details to his statement about the killing, which could incriminate both him and Matthew.

Theatre review: Medea

Among the many current discussions about jobs and representation for women on stage, one question that often comes up is what constitutes a "strong female role." I would have thought it obviously meant "a strong role, but for a woman," but if Hollywood thinks it means a woman who punches people, others seem to confuse strong roles with positive ones. But the title role in Euripides' Medea is undoubtedly a strong role, while far from anyone's idea of a heroine; and Helen McCrory doesn't make the mistake of trying to make her one as she takes it on. Medea helped Jason steal the golden fleece from her family, and they married and fled to Corinth. Some years later, their fortunes faded, Jason (Danny Sapani) leaves Medea and their two sons to marry Kreusa (Clemmie Sveaas,) the daughter of King Kreon (Martin Turner.)

Theatre review: Carthage

Carthage opens and closes with the same scene, a cyclical nature that mirrors the life of the character at its centre: Tommy (Jack McMullen) was born in a prison, and he died in one. Robert Hastie's production at the Finborough often references these cycles in Chris Thompson's debut play, in which scenes from Tommy's life alternate with those following his death, in which the question of who's to take the blame for it is bandied about with very few people willing to accept responsibility. His childhood is spent yo-yoing between foster care and his mother Anne's (Claire-Louise Cordwell) flat, until he commits a particularly heinous, unnamed crime that lands him in a young offenders' institution. There a particularly aggressive attack on the guards ends up with a routine restraint procedure going wrong, and Tommy stops breathing.

Theatre review: Home

Director Nadia Fall has put together a verbatim play for The Shed, in one of the temporary venue's most successful productions so far. Home is set at Target East, an East London hostel for young people with a pretty bad reputation locally. Through interviews with the people who live and work in a real hostel, Fall attempts not only to highlight it as a place that does important, undervalued work, but also to expose its residents, no matter what their backgrounds, as more than just the uniform mass of feral youth the media portrayed them as around the time of the 2011 riots. Most of the people living in the hostel had been homeless prior to getting their place there; many had fled abusive homes, or been disowned and thrown out by their families, or had brushes with the law, even spent time in prison.

Theatre review: His Greatness

Inspired by an apocryphal story about Tennessee Williams near the end of his life, Daniel MacIvor's His Greatness (which doesn't name the characters in the actual dialogue but makes no secret of who they're based on) spends two days in late 1980 in a Vancouver hotel room with three gay men. The Playwright (Matthew Marsh) is in town for the opening of his latest play - actually just a rewrite of an earlier, critically panned work. Already feted as a Great American Playwright for his early plays, his most recent work has met with derision, which he responds to by burying himself in whiskey and cocaine. A former lover, now his long-term Assistant (Russell Bentley,) steers him through his schedule, his main job seeming to be keeping the Playwright sober for any public appearances. As tonight is opening night, his job also involves hiring a Young Man (Toby Wharton) to escort the Playwright to the theatre, as well as providing other services later in the evening.

Theatre review: Fog

Actor Toby Wharton's first play is co-written with veteran playwright Tash Fairbanks, who was his mother's partner, and was born out of piece they wrote for his (successful) audition for RADA. So as Wharton was raised by a lesbian couple Fog can't be too directly autobiographical, dealing as it does with problems faced by children raised in care. After his mother's death, Gary (Wharton) and his sister Lou (Annie Hemingway) were left in care and their father Cannon (Victor Gardener) spent the next decade in the army. As the play opens, Cannon is suddenly back in town, renting a flat at the top of an East London estate, from where Gary can see the care home he spent many unhappy years in.

Although it still betrays the fact that it was written as a showcase for its lead actor, Fog also offers opportunities for the rest of the cast to make their mark. Gary's relationship with best friend Michael (Benjamin Cawley) is nicely played, and heartbreaking when cracks appear in it. Kanga Tanikye-Buah provides good comic relief as Michael's businesslike sister, and the whole play has moments of lightness to balance out the pretty dark accusations it makes about the care system. Ultimately of course it is the lead who's the most fleshed-out character, and Wharton gives us a teenager with an aggressive, cocky attitude (the title comes from the MC name Gary unsuccessfully demands he be called by) which barely conceals the fragile child he still is. At times the play is a bit heavy-handed with its politics, and sometimes sticks with the same groups of characters for longer than is interesting. But there's certainly some affecting stuff in Ché Walker's production too, and by the end you feel for Gary and his likely bleak outlook.

Fog by Tash Fairbanks and Toby Wharton is booking until the 28th of January at the Finborough Theatre.

Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes straight through.