Tori Allen-Martin and David Leopold in Muted at The Bunker, London. Picture: Savannah Photographic
Muted continues at The Bunker, London until 7 January 2017.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Good musical theatre excites an audience, but truly great musical theatre challenges and provokes a reaction from its audience.
Muted falls into the latter category. This is a musical which is billed as a British version of Rent. And yes, like Rent, the piece focuses on challenged characters trying to survive, but this stands on its own as an original piece of theatre.
Muted focuses on the lives of former band mates Lauren, Jake and Michael. After suffering a profound loss, Michael has lost his voice: he has been muted. He has also lost his first love, Lauren, who is now in a relationship with Jake.
The action begins with the cosy domestic world of Lauren (Tori Allen-Martin) and Jake (Jos Slovick) – a relationship filled with polite exchanges and sentimentality. Jake wants Lauren to move out of her comfort zone and get the silenced Michael (David Leopold) to finally find his voice.
Lauren and Jake go on to open themselves up to joy – and pain. Allen-Martin is strong as Lauren – she works well to reflect a truly conflicted character who is battling desire and regret.
This is reflected well through the clever, intimate staging from director Jamie Jackson – the audience, like Lauren, are caught up in the conflict.
Leopold is the standout performer. Dialogue is at the heart of most productions but Leopold has to portray the sadness, anger and depression of a character who can’t and does not want to speak. He prowls the confined stage, he startles and he pounces like a modern day Hamlet.
The Shakespearean influences continue through flashbacks of Michael’s mum who walks the stage like an apparition and is joined by a young Michael (played by confident Edd Campbell Bird).
Bird, along with a talented band led by Adam Gerber, tackles Tim Prottey-Jones and Tori Allen-Martin’s pop/rock ballads with force and further demonstrates the complexity of ‘Michael’.
Muted is a great example of new British writing – for our industry to grow, meaningful pieces about human identity have to take precedence and this piece uncovers new ground about loss, depression and love.
Rebecca Gordon
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