Wilko: Love and Death and Rock 'n' Roll ★★★ Southwark Playhouse, Borough | Mar 20 - Apr 19, 2025


Wilko Johnson was the lead guitarist for the 1970s rock band, Dr. Feelgood. Playwright Jonathan Maitland starts his portrait of the musician when he is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. The story then goes back to Johnson's youth when we see him trapped between a brutal father and an upwardly-mobile mother. It is a dichotomy that informs the guitarist's life. He constantly wavers between his persona as the outsider from Essex and the university-educated quoter of Wordsworth who loves astronomy. Maitland's subtitle for his piece "Love and Death and Rock 'n' Roll" also suggests this contradiction, being a variation on the title of the Ian Dury song "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll." And indeed, the latter describes Johnson's life as accurately as the former. Unfortunately, like its protagonist, Wilko often seems uneasily caught between two stools. It skims over the biography, almost minimising the break-up of the band and the repercussions of Johnson's infidelity, while it doesn't really work as a concert piece either. At one point, Johnson says "It’s not a jukebox musical. It’s a play – with music.” However, the narrative seems rather insubstantial, and the highlights of the show are the renditions of such hits as "She Does It Right," "All Through the City," and "Roxette." Johnson Willis as the contradictory Wilko and Jon House as the fractious lead singer Lee Brilleaux both put in strong performances, as does Georgina Fairbanks as Wilko's wife, Irene. Willis and House also bring lots of energy to their musical numbers, but despite those efforts, this is an evening that seems to trade on nostalgia, not quite realising its potential.

Rated: ★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Mark Sepple

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: 77-85 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BD, UK

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