The Distance You Have Come – Cockpit Theatre

Dean John-Wilson and Jodie Jacobs in The Distance You Have Come at the Cockpit Theatre, London. Picture: Darren Bell

The Distance You Have Come continues at the Cockpit Theatre, London until 28 October 2018.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Billed as a song cycle (by Scott Alan who also directs) this two-hour piece sits somewhere between musical theatre and a concert.

Six people interact in various roles as we explore, through song and drama, the messiness, anguish and happiness of human relationships ranging from parenthood to suicidal despair, dating and more.

The problem with it is that it needs a lot more narrative cohesion to make it work at this length. As it stands it’s bitty and sometimes puzzling, although the second half is better than the first.

I’m still not sure, for example, whether Dean John-Wilson (pleasing singing voice) is being baptised, having his hair washed, being prepared for burial or something I didn’t think of when he’s lain backward and dunked into water in a trough by two other characters.

The strongest and most sustained “story” is enacted by Andy Coxon as Brian and Adrian Hansel as Samuel. We track them from their first meeting through to becoming parents together and their song ‘Home’, as they express their love for their child, is both well sung and moving.

Jodie Jacobs has a highly engaging stage personality. She is charismatically funny whether she’s singing about her love for Laura (Alexia Khadime – good) or coyly trying to nail a second date with a man she’s just had a one night stand with but she’s forgotten his name. Her body language is deliciously expressive and her singing is delightful.

Emma Hatton sings with warmth in the penultimate number ‘At All’, in the earlier ‘I’m A Star’ and in several duets and trios. The main thrust of the character she plays most of the time is a young actor desperate for a break and it’s nicely observed.

The very best thing in this show, however, is Scott Morgan’s orchestration. The music is scored for a piano trio and most of it is immaculately counterpointed against the singing.

Seated on one of the Cockpit’s corner, over-stage balconies the musicians – with Morgan on piano as musical director – play splendidly with soaring violin and powerful cello and add a really original dimension. Many times, during this show, I found myself listening so hard to the accompaniment that what was happening below seemed almost an irrelevance.

Susan Elkin