Rent – Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester

Dom Hartley-Harris, Alex Thomas-Smith and the Featured Ensemble in Rent at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. Picture: Pamela Raith

Rent at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester continues to be streamed online on 4, 5 and 6 December 2020; 11, 12 and 13 December 2020; and 18, 19 and 20 December 2020.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My colleague Nigel Smith reviewed this show when it opened in person at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre earlier this month. Thankfully they filmed it on the last performance before they closed the show for lockdown and it is the filmed version I saw. And now you can too from anywhere in the UK.

If you have never visited this theatre – now is your chance! Tickets for this recorded version are on sale from now until 20 December. The company had permission to film and broadcast the show to supplement their revenue loss for the social distancing imposed at the theatre (70 seats instead of 140) but this has now been extended for them to be able to offer the show online after the live performances were cancelled.

I am a big fan of Rent. I suspect therefore that I am easy to please but hard to impress. This is the smallest-scale production of the show I have experienced and it really works. I saw things in the show I have never seen and, believe me, I have looked.

This show was rehearsed in the new style. The cast went into a bubble together (12 people in the same house) but this production, directed by Luke Sheppard, additionally limits physical contact on the stage which means effectively they have created a whole new physical language for the show.

Touch is definitely sparing but when it happens it is hugely powerful, and it only starts to happen as we approach the end of the show. The ‘Tango: Maureen’, usually a partner dance number is completely revised, and in a very small space. Choreography is by Tom Jackson Greaves. All the references to ‘the virus’ in the show are to HIV but it all resonates in our current circumstances too.

The featured ensemble of four – Isaac Hesketh, Allie Daniel, Kayla Carter, and Bethany Terry – play a whole host of supporting roles and also dance up a storm – quite often seated.

All the main characters are wonderful, but I would give the edge to Collins and Angel. Their love story stood out for me even more than it usually does and Angel’s first number ‘Today for You’ is incredibly energised. I was wondering if there was a backing track somewhere in the mix but I think that Alex Thomas-Smith really can dance and sing that much at once.

I loved that Roger sees April – and we do, just before ‘Glory’. If that’s been in any other production I have seen, I have missed it. It’s such a beautiful moment.

I also loved all the phones. This show was written pre most mobile phone technology and this production handles phone technology beautifully.

It was also very sexy. All the couples are sexy – Roger and Mimi, Maureen and Joanne and Collins and Angel. The focus on Roger in ‘Will I Lose My Dignity’ as he contemplates his possible future is very poignant. I also loved the character of Joanne in this production, including her attempts to Moo in ‘Over the Moon’.

The iconic ‘525,600 minutes’ is performed sitting on chairs round the acting area, very intimate and powerful.

This production is a delight whether you know this show already or not and the camera work (the show is filmed by Umbrella Rooms) directs the audience’s eye to many a pleasing detail, adding a whole layer of input to the production. Please buy a ticket and support this wonderful company.

Clare Walters

Cast: Jocasta Almgill, Blake Patrick Anderson, Tom Francis, Ahmed Hamad, Dom Hartley-Harris, Millie O’Connell, Maiya Quansah-Breed, Alex Thomas-Smith, Kayla Carter, Allie Daniel, Isaac Hesketh, Bethany Terry