The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Review

Ambassadors Theatre, London

*****

Music & lyrics by Darren Clark

Book, lyrics & directed by Jethro Compton

Clare Foster and John Dagleish

“It’s all just a matter of time…” a recurring lyric throughout this musical iteration of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic short story – and over the last few years it has been a slow but enchanting journey, watching this show evolve through two iterations at the Southwark Playhouse into its West End premiere at the Ambassadors Theatre.

The story of Benjamin Button is a modern classic. Born in the early 20th century, by a freak of the fates as a 70 year-old man, Button goes through his life gradually becoming younger until he finally expires as an infant in swaddling. Stripping away all the Oscar winning digital/CGI enhancements incorporated in the 2008 movie, writers Jethro Compton and Darren Clark shift the fable from its New Orleans origins to their native Cornwall, and in so doing create a show that gloriously celebrates story-telling through its inspirational cast.

John Dagleish plays Button and in a simple depiction of his age, arrives in the show as a hunched, bespectacled, bowler-hatted and pipe-smoking curmudgeon. Its an ingenious touch that celebrates Button’s age, yet allows him to evolve through the show with simple  costume and make-up adjustments. Dagleish has a fine voice and through an outstanding performance also captures the quizzical yet paradoxically wise, innocence of Button through the show’s first act. The second half brings moments of heartbreaking poignancy as Button's freakishly evolving youthfulness sees him encounter rejection and disbelief from some of those around him.

The show’s company of actor-musicians lend a rustic-folksy authenticity to the evening that imbues it with a mystical Cornish air. Designed by Compton with Anna Kelsey the stage is rough-timbers and staircases with fishing nets draped across the ceiling – subtle and understated, yet a beautiful evocation of this story’s roots.

Opposite Benjamin is his love interest, Elowen, played by the magnificent Clare Foster. Elowen’s character ages in the natural way through the show and it is a mark of Foster’s genius that she embodies the woman not only as a coquettish teenager, but also, sensitively, through the loving and passionate years of her middle-age, through to her ultimate passing, all with a tenderness and an authenticity that mark hers as one of the more fabulous female performances in musical theatre to have graced a London stage in quite some time. 

Leave your memories of the movie at the door. Clark and Compton’s interpretation of this whimsical story, together with their inspirational melodies, mark this show as perhaps the finest new writing to hit the West End this year. If the media gods allow, this production almost deserves a movie of its own. Who knows? Surely it’s all just a matter of time….

Booking until 15th February 2025

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London

****

Book & lyrics by Jethro Compton

Music & lyrics by Darren Clark

Directed & designed by Jethro Compton

Molly Osborne and Jamie Parker

This new musical is a fine fusion of music, song and acting. Taking F.Scott Fitzgerald’s famous /short story of a baby born as an old man who then spends his life getting younger, Jethro Compton and Darren Clark have crafted the yarn into a fabulous fable.

Compton has translated Fitzgerald’s tale to a Cornish setting and the show proves to be a lovingly crafted tribute to that region. With Button being born aged 70 in 1918, the narrative also offers an eclectic perspective on the 20th century.

The musical had an earlier outing at the other Southwark Playhouse space in 2019, where the cramped stage was cluttered with the trappings of the Cornish fishing communities. In this new larger venue those trappings are still there, only now they enhance rather than overpower the musical. And much as this show and its songs are all about time, so too have the last 4 years allowed the show to mature beautifully. No longer is Benjamin portrayed by a puppet, but in a stroke of inspired casting, Jamie Parker plays the title role. Wisely avoiding prosthetics to show his reverse-ageing, Parker instead relies upon a few distinctive costume touches (bowler hat and pipe suggesting his dotage) and above all delivers a masterclass in performance, convincing us of his age throughout the show as we witness his transformation from being aged 70 to around 20 or so.

As his life, love, and family age around him, Parker elicits genuine and profound sympathy as he inches towards the poignant and inevitable endgame that we know awaits him. 

It’s not just Parker though. Compton has assembled a magnificent multi-role company of 11 who perfectly pick up all manner of parts. Notable amongst this troupe is Molly Osborne as Elowen, Benjamin’s love and then his wife. All the company are magnificently voiced and it is a credit to them that Compton’s fast-moving lyrics (that occasionally drift too far into exposition) are crystal clear.

Credit too to these actors for creating one of the finest actor-musician troupes ever assembled. The range of instruments played is orchestral in its range with these multi-skilled performers offering up a full complement of string, wind and percussion and creating a sound that is, quite simply, gorgeous.

If there’s a flaw to the piece it’s in the second half, where the credibility of Benjamin’s return to his ultimate nativity would be a tough nut for any dramatist to crack. The show’s creatives wisely avoid dressing Parker as an adult-baby, but there are moments towards the end when perhaps a little too much is asked of the audience’s powers of imagination.  

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a bold and brilliant contribution to the canon of new musical writing.

Runs until 1st July

Photo credit: Juan Coolio

These Trees Are Made Of Blood - Review

Arcola Theatre, London


****

Music and lyrics by Darren Clark
Text by Paul Jenkins
Original Story by Amy Draper, Paul Jenkins and Darren Clark

Directed by Amy Draper

Alexander Luttley

These Trees Are Made of Blood is quite the title, and “political musical cabaret” is quite the concept. Inspired by the director’s study year in Buenos Aires and the harrowing yet inspiring story she uncovered there, this is a performance well deserving of its transfer from the Southwark Playhouse. 

Rob Castrell as the General, making full use of his dangerous eyes and casual charm, takes centre stage. He draws us into the seemingly fine and dandy world of 1970s Argentina (The Coup Coup Club, the “p” is silent) with his brazen Wing Commander (Alexander Luttley) backup prancing in marvellous drag. Luttley is cheeky and flirtatious from the moment one enters the theatre, piquing the audience’s curiosity about what lies in store before they’ve even picked up their tickets.

The three military leads beautifully juxtapose each other, from the commanding gumption of the General, to the gentle but discerning tones of Lieutenant Suarez (Neil Kelso), who mesmerises with magic that seems playful if you don’t think about it too much and the Wing Commander in shoes that one could barely walk in.

The whole point of the 1970s military in Argentina seems to have been to ensure that the people didn’t think too much and trusted the seemingly magnanimous General, the self proclaimed Father of the Nation. With the audience taking on the role of the nation it isn’t difficult to ride the wave into stark realisation with Ellen O' Grady's Madre. 

The chief double-threat in a show of marvellous actor/singers is O’Grady, who gives the most honest performance (in the sense most others have a hidden agenda or several characters to encompass). Her stunning and heart bursting rendition of My Little Bird in the second act leaves the audience in little doubt that the perceived light-heartedness is well and truly over. 

Darren Clark's musical numbers ingeniously make the audience laugh when they shouldn’t for as long as possible before a perhaps too hasty descent into the dark reality of the plot. In true cabaret style, the music is brought to life by an incredible live band including Anne-Marie Piazza playing accordion and ukulele, Josh Sneesby on guitar and grieving boyfriend, Eilon Morris playing drums and Judge and Rosalind Ford playing cello and CIA agent stripper. 

Amy Draper directs a show that surprises, entertains and informs, bringing into the light a worryingly modern but not widely known conflict that ended with the Falklands War. The show harrowingly acknowledges the Mothers of the Plaza De Mayo, who continue to remember the hundreds of disappeared children under the stifling regime of the Dirty War.

The sometimes overly literal language hints at the show’s flaws, but that is by no means a reason not to buy a ticket. See this show to peek behind a flashy cabaret curtain and uncover a fascinating tale of subterfuge and state terrorism beyond.

Runs until 15th July

Reviewed by Heather Deacon

Photo credit: Helen Murray