Spy Plays, Above The Stag Theatre - ★★★★ - Until March 29, 2020


The two plays, London/Budapest and Kompromat, are set at very different times in European and gay history. The former is set in the Cold War, with a backstory in World War II, and deals with the death of man-about-town, and possible spy, Adam de Hegedus. The latter is about the murder of GCHQ employee, Gareth Williams, in 2010. Both works are drawn from real life cases and are short, dark, almost Orwellian looks into the world of espionage. These are taut little thrillers with well-drawn characters. Max Rinehart is suitably menacing as Reg/Zac and does a fine job of distinguishing two characters who might have blended into each other. Guy Warren-Thomas captures the spirit of erudite and urbane Adam and is equally believable as the näive, introverted Tom. While Adam is the stronger individual, believing he has some agency in his world, both he and Tom are vulnerable and marginalised figures because of their backgrounds and sexuality. They both appear to be prey to their apparently powerful assailants in the personal and political games afoot. However, the victimiser is ultimately a victim as well, acting only at the behest of enigmatic, amoral forces such as British espionage or Russian oligarchs. In David Thame's dark world there is only a hierarchy of control; no one is really the master of their own fate. It is that realisation which makes the plays so chilling, and rather frighteningly relevant to the present day. This is a thoroughly enjoyable and compelling night of intrigue!

 Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by PBG Studios.
 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆ 

 Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

 WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until March 29, 2020
Tue - Sat: 7:45 pm, Sun: 6:15 pm
Above The Stag Theatre
Nearest tube: Vauxhall
https://abovethestag.org.uk/whatson/spy-plays/
Map & Location: 72 Albert Embankment, Vauxhall, London SE1 7TP, UK

Most Popular

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons ★★★★ Harold Pinter Theatre | Jan 18 - Mar 18, 2023

Image
For reasons that are never quite clear, the government decides to impose a law that limits individuals to using 140 words a day. Playwright, Sam Steiner, uses this Twitter premise to consider governmental suppression of speech and the role of communication in relationships. Over the arc of their love affair, Bernadette, played by Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman, and Oliver, portrayed by Poldark heartthrob, Aidan Turner spar about, and explore, the use of language in the personal and political spheres. She is a lawyer, insecure about her class origins and not terribly concerned about the new law, despite the fact that her business is words. In contrast, he is a musician from an upper class background who is actively engaged in protesting the new restrictions. As a musician his preferred medium of communication might be sound, but ironically he is the one distressed about the curtailment of speech. Their interaction and commentary on the new law is interesting but inconclusive, mirroring
Full Details »

Barbara Bleier and Austin Pendleton ★★★ The Pheasantry | January 13 &14, 2023

Image
Two consummate song stylists bring their talents to interpreting the works of Stephen Sondheim and Oscar Hammerstein in this thoroughly enjoyable evening at The Pheasantry. Both Barbara Bleier and Austin Pendleton have long histories in performing, and they draw on that experience in a show which features the two genius songwriters in the first half and offers a selection of their own favourites in the second. From the opening number, "What Do We Do? We Fly!" taken from Sondheim's show with Richard Rodgers, Do I Hear a Waltz? the audience knows that, unlike the reluctant flyers, we can relax. We are in the capable hands of two seasoned songsters. Indeed, with their excellent accompanist, Paul Greenwood, the pair manages to extract depths of meaning and humour from the works of both the masters and from their other selections, some familiar and some new to us. Their performance of "Anyone Can Whistle" was a showstopper, and a particular highlight was Bleier
Full Details »

George Takei's Allegiance ★★★★ Charing Cross Theatre | Jan 7 - Apr 8, 2023

Image
George Takei's Allegiance deals with a dark time in American history and raises some questions about today's political environment. Referencing the treatment of Takei's own family, it looks at the policy of incarcerating Japanese Americans during WWII. Property confiscated and deprived of their liberty, members of the community were moved into camps where their treatment was often worse than that accorded prisoners of war. They were then offered a choice which was really a cruel catch-22: protest this unfair policy, refuse to fight in the war and be branded a traitor, or fight in the war, prove one's patriotism and be put in an all-Japanese American company that is assigned to suicide missions. The choice divided families and the wounds often never healed. Young Sammy Kimura (Telly Leung) decides to assert his independence and demonstrate his allegiance to country by making the latter choice. He thus becomes estranged from his sister Kei (Aynrand Ferrer) who, since the
Full Details »

We'll Always Have Paris ★★★★ The Mill at Sonning | Jan 19 - Mar 11, 2023

Image
Great food and delightful entertainment! A get-away to Paris? Or even easier, a visit to The Mill at Sonning to see the dinner-theatre's latest offering. We'll Always Have Paris recounts the meeting of three school friends who are reinventing themselves. Nancy has retired from being a school headmistress, Anna is recently widowed after years of being a caregiver, and Raquel is on the verge of losing her latest toy boy. All three are in Paris, the city which may, or may not, offer them a new lease on life. This heartwarming show is engagingly humorous and unobtrusively thought provoking. Elizabeth Elvin is quite perfect as the sensible former educator who knows who she is, and Debbie Arnold is hilarious as the dizzy Raquel who defines herself by the man she is with. Between these two poles is Anna who has been trapped by an abusive relationship and who must now chart a new path. Natalie Ogle succeeds in subtly creating this transformation and while the play teases the audience
Full Details »

Two Billion Beats ★★★★ Orange Tree Theatre | Jan 20 - Feb 4, 2023

Image
Two billion beats refers to the number of times a heart beats over a lifetime, and this story deals with two sisters who learn life lessons both in school and in the schoolyard. Asha is determined to succeed, but even as she strives to be the top of her class her definition of success is changing. It turns out that her role models from teacher, Mrs L and her mother to Gandhi and Emmeline Pankhurst may all prove to have clay feet. On the other hand, the aspirations of her younger sister, Bettina, are somewhat more mundane. The latter simply wants to buy a hamster and to end the bullying she suffers from classmates on the bus. At first, Asha ignores her sibling's plight, but when she becomes involved her view of the problem and her stratagem for dealing with it prove equally problematic. Like Emmeline Pankhurst's response to her pacifist daughter, Sylvia, or Gandhi's behaviour when dealing with B. R. Ambedkar and the Dalits, Asha fails to see the real scope of the issue. And
Full Details »

Newsies ★★★★ Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre | Until April 16, 2023

Image
Newsies is a big brash musical that has some absolutely breathtaking dancing sequences. Its themes of workers striking for fairer treatment and the media's manipulation of public opinion may resonate with today's headlines, but finally in this show it's the choreography that carries the day. Based on the Disney movie of the same name, Newsies tells the true story of a group of newspaper sellers who take on the press baron, Joseph Pulitzer, when he attempts to raise the price of their bundles from 50 to 60 cents apiece. It's an inspiring tale leavened with a love story that involves the leader of the strike Jack Kelly, ably played by Michael Ahomka-Lindsay, sparring with Pulitzer's rebellious daughter, Katherine, interpreted by Bronté Barbé. None of the songs struck us as particularly memorable, but to be fair, some of their impact was lost in sound issues that also occasionally rendered the dialogue unintelligible. The Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre is an enormou
Full Details »

In the Net ★★ Jermyn Street Theatre | Jan 12 - Feb 4, 2023

Image
"You may be close, but I've learned that getting close is only getting closer, till you get there." Typical of the dialogue in this show, the sense of that line may be more accessible than the overall meaning of the piece. Set in 2025 the play deals with drought, probably as a result of climate change, and the treatment of refugees fleeing to Britain. It seems to be distressed by the former and sympathetic to the latter. Beyond that it is difficult to determine exactly what is going on. Two half-sisters, calm and controlled Anna (Anya Murphy) who has returned from a Buddhist monastery and feisty Laura (Carlie Diamond) who studied philosophy at university and likes to refer to Hegel construct an Eruv in defiance of the local council. Traditionally, the Eruv is a structure, in this case a net, that allows for activities to take place in the area covered that are not usually permitted on the Jewish Sabbath. Laura explains Eruv means "mixture" and "It mixes hom
Full Details »

On The Ropes ★★★★ Park Theatre | Jan 7 - Feb 4, 2023

Image
On The Ropes chronicles the life of Vernon Vanriel, a British boxer whose boxing career took off in the late 70s and early 80s. The show is a no-holds-barred exposé of his professional and personal life, unflinchingly revealing both its highs and its lows. While the piece is divided into twelve rounds, it really seems to deal with two different bouts. In the first, Vanriel achieves considerable success in the ring, but he ultimately succumbs to his struggles with a corrupt boxing establishment and his own demons. In the second fight, he squares off with the bureaucracy of the Home Office to establish his right to live in Britain. He eventually triumphs in that struggle and becomes emblematic of the abuses perpetrated on the Windrush generation. In telling the boxer's story, the challenge for writers, Vanriel and Dougie Blaxland, is to establish the relationship between these two battles, but unfortunately it feels as if one story is dropped when the other is picked up. The only co
Full Details »

The Ghosting of Rabbie Burns ★★ King's Head Theatre | January 3 - 14, 2023

Image
A young woman has been ghosted by her partner of several years and withdraws to a country cottage to nurse her wounds. Little does she know that this particular hideaway is haunted by the spectre of Scotland's bard. It is Burns Night and the phantom suddenly decides to appear and pay her a visit. The premise is intriguing, but unfortunately the execution fails to live up to this promise. Both the young woman, Emily, and the ghost are two dimensional characters who engage in a dialogue that is neither very amusing nor very insightful. Emily Ashton does a credible job as the jilted lover, but other than being identified as a writer she doesn't have much of a role to work with. On the other hand, Burns was a deeply complex individual – by turns sentimental, self-absorbed and surprisingly sensitive. However, while these conundrums of his character are hinted at, they are not explored in any meaningful way; he is presented here as having a buffoonish lack of self-awareness. The iss
Full Details »

Love Goddess, The Rita Hayworth Musical ★★★ The Cockpit | Nov 18 - Dec 23, 2022

Image
Rita Hayworth was one of the most important stars of her generation. A talented dancer who was seductively glamorous, she lit up the screen in Hollywood's golden era. This musical tells the story of the creation of her persona – which unsurprisingly involved a domineering father and a series of exploitative men. However, it also sets up the contrast of this typical show business tale with the tragic loss of her identity to the cruelty of early onset Alzheimer's disease. The challenge with translating such a biography into theatre is how much information to include. It is a question of finding the essential theme of a life and not getting caught up in all the fascinating details. Unfortunately here, there is really too much dependence on chronology and a determination to squeeze in a lot of particulars. The performances, however, are generally strong. Imogen Kingsley-Smith is an excellent young Rita and her dancing is outstanding. We particularly liked the sequences with Joey Si
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings