Diva: Live From Hell – King’s Head Theatre

Picture: Danny With a Camera

Diva: Live From Hell continues at the King’s Head Theatre, London until 29 June 2024.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

For those only familiar with the ‘old’ King’s Head pub venue, where show-goers would rub shoulders with locals and edge their way warily past drinkers into the back-room space when the five minute bell went, a visit to the new location is a fresh, pleasant experience, even if it’s inevitable that some of the old spirit has been lost in the transition around the corner – for now.

Judging by this production, what hasn’t been compromised by those behind the new King’s Head Theatre is its long tradition of creative adventure, willingness to go out on a limb and give fresh talent a chance.

Returning to the London stage for a limited time after an acclaimed run in 2022 at Battersea’s Turbine Theatre, this solo musical, directed by Joe McNeice, sees Luke Bayer give a mostly mesmeric, increasingly manic and gloriously self-obsessed performance as Desmond Channing the president of the Ronald Reagan High School’s drama society and star of every school show. In truth, he doesn’t need an audience, just a mirror. His worse fears are realised when rival student Evan Harris, a performing arts graduate from the Big Apple, challenges his throne and he sets out on an ultimately tragic path of self-destructive revenge. Hell hath no fury like a diva scorned.

With book and characters by Nora Brigid Monahan and music and lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen, Bayer as Desmond, playing every character, is hugely impressive, like some high-speed creative chameleon changing instantly from terrifying diva to all American dude, Harris and their naïve female classmates.

Said to be inspired by the 1950 Bette Davis film All About Eve, this self-acclaimed ‘blood-stained love letter to Broadway’ is a wonderfully twisted, macabre and thankfully also hilarious take on one diva’s absolute devotion to being the star of the show – without any compromise. “There’s only room for one Joan Crawford here,” says Channing. The musical score is robust (directed by Debbi Clarke), gives plenty of scope for Bayer’s excellent, impassioned vocals and even if some numbers are way more memorable than others, they all somehow fit like a glove into the narrative.

The catalyst for Channing’s ultimate personal meltdown is a planned production of Pirates of Penzance, which sees him replaced in the role of Pirate King by his nemesis and then even impeached as president of the school’s drama society.

The dramatic denouement is a combination of gruesome revenge and eternal professional damnation and it’s fabulously entertaining to watch, if a little unsettling.

The only minus here is that the final few minutes don’t really work and only serve to dilute the impact that Bayer has worked so incredibly hard to establish over the previous hour. Any true diva, after all, would know exactly when to leave the stage – and leave the audience wanting more. Bette Davis would never have committed such a cardinal sin.

Derek Smith