The Little Big Things – National Theatre at Home

Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

The Little Big Things streams on National Theatre at Home from 9 May 2024.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

There are many reasons why @sohoplace was the perfect location for The Little Big Things, Nick Butcher, Tom Ling and Joe White’s musical based on the life of mouth painter Henry Fraser, who was paralysed at the age of 17 after an accident while on holiday.

The venue’s in-the-round auditorium produces a sense of intimacy entirely appropriate for what is, at its heart, the story of a family under pressure. Also necessary, too, is @sohoplace’s level of accessibility both onstage and backstage, allowing wheelchair users to fully participate in, and be at the heart of, a West End musical.

And that means that while many West End musicals go on to tour the UK, the number of venues that could adequately house The Little Big Things is frustratingly small. How fortunate we are, then, that we live in an age of streaming so that a recorded performance of the musical can tour to the living room of anyone who wishes to see it.

Joining the National Theatre’s NT at Home streaming service, on film The Little Big Things maintains that sense of intimacy that the original theatre staging provides. Ed Larkin’s Henry narrates and confides in the theatre audience throughout the show, which works especially well in person; on TV, he may never look directly our way, but there is no doubt that he is bringing us in, too.

A recorded production also gives us an advantage that the theatre itself could never provide. Luke Sheppard’s direction ensures that nobody on any side of the action ever gets a bad view, but the nature of an in-the-round performance means that some character interactions are inevitably experienced while looking at the back of one or more characters’ heads. With the professional camerawork, that’s no longer an issue: we don’t just have the best seat in the house, but we have multiple ones to catch everything.

And there is a lot to catch. Larkin’s interaction with Jonny Amies as his younger, pre-accident self becomes more emotionally charged; so too, does his relationship with his three brothers. We also capture the little things that are especially big: Jordan Benjamin, a riotous powerhouse as Henry’s little brother Dom, holding Henry’s hand for the first time since the accident packs an even bigger punch here.

Sometimes, the camera’s insistence on focusing our attention can frustrate a little, such as during Malinda Parris’ big number, ‘Work of Heart’, when her NHS doctor has a quick change from NHS scrubs to a sequinned dress. On stage, the transformation happens before our eyes; here, cuts away mean that the reveal loses some of the impact. What it keeps, though, is Parris’ wholehearted charm, and the palpable appreciation the whole audience has for her character’s description of herself, and her fellow NHS workers, as overworked and underpaid.

Other character moments become larger and more clarified on the video screen. Linzi Hateley and Alasdair Harvey, as Henry’s parents Fran and Andrew, really draw us into the stress that their son’s life-changing injuries have on the whole family. So too, Jamie Chatterton and Cleve September’s performances as the older brothers who struggle to shrug off their guilt over Henry’s accident become magnified.

This national release means that so many people will now get to see Amy Trigg’s performance as no-nonsense physio Agnes, for which she rightly won the Oliver Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. Fresh audiences will also get to appreciate Luke Halls’ vibrant splashes of colour on the set’s video flooring, and Mark Smith’s choreography, infusing the moves with sign language-based arm work that helps to unite standing performers and those in wheelchairs.

For those who did not get to see The Little Big Things in situ, it’s an opportunity to see that the West End is still capable of producing brand-new musical theatre works that challenge the limits of the medium’s capabilities. And for those of us who were lucky enough to witness it in person – either once, or multiple times – it’s an opportunity to return to the welcoming arms of a show, and a company, full of warmth and generosity of spirit.

Scott Matthewman