Ride – Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Liv Andrusier and Katy Ellis in Ride at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London. Picture: Danny Kaan

Ride continues at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London until 12 August 2023.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Theatre is lies. More specifically, the neat plays we make about chaotic historical events are lies. Inventive storytelling is the key to success, in entertainment as in life. Many plays might be afraid to address this thesis, but Ride – a new British musical by Freya Catrin Smith and Jack Williams about Annie Londonderry, the 1894 round-the-world cyclist – goes in unafraid and all guns blazing, shackling its emotional core to this premise.

This is a feminist tale of empowerment and self-determination that works not in spite of any possible holes in Annie Londonderry’s “cycled around the world” story, but because of them. In a time when women had few prospects, and poor immigrant women even fewer, Annie took on the system with a confidence and commitment to her own self-promotion that would make Harold Hill blush, and against all odds she won. This is the tale Ride tells, and it is magnificent.

From the first scene, it is made clear that Annie Londonderry is not all she purports to be: she is far more. We are presented with a tale of a confident woman who cycled around the entire world on a wager, meeting extraordinary people and having even more extraordinary adventures along the way. What makes it all believable is that it is told by the most extraordinary woman. Liv Andrusier is a remarkable talent, and in her hands, Annie is the most magnetic, charming, other-worldly ball of witty energy ever to grace a stage. She enlists the help of secretary Martha – Katy Ellis – to help tell her tale, and the two-woman show they put on is hard to forget.

Given Andrusier’s energy, it is to Ellis’ great credit as a comic performer that a lot of the early laughs come from her. She is hesitant and grounded, and deeply relatable as she reels from and reacts to the explosion of charisma that has entered her (and the audience’s) life. As she throws herself into varied roles and more dramatic scenes, she proves herself to be a wonderful performer, in every way keeping up with and complementing Andrusier’s Annie. The pair’s chemistry is wonderful and whether fighting or falling in love, it is impossible to look away.

I was lucky enough to hear this show’s title song while filming a concert of new musical theatre writing a number of years ago. It has been stuck in my head ever since, and I do not resent it one bit. Sure, the laborious process of editing and mastering live audio meant I heard it more than a few times, but even if it had been just once, I think it would still be with me. The song captures the excitement of the show and Annie’s story perfectly, and the octave-spanning vocal leap into the chorus never fails to exhilarate. Now that I have seen the entire show twice, the rest of the songs have started to seep their way into my subconscious also. This is one seriously catchy score.

Complementing the two (excellent) singers on stage is a relatively small but highly effective three-piece band, led by musical director/supervisor Sam Young on keys, and also featuring Frankie South on guitar and Alex Maxted on percussion. The musical arrangements are wonderful and generate a surprisingly full pop sound that drives us through the 90-minute interval-less show with force.

Ride is one of the best new British musicals we have, and it is wonderful to see it go from strength to strength. Both this production at Southwark Playhouse’s wonderful new Elephant venue and its previous outing at Charing Cross Theatre were impressively polished and confident presentations, and I hope the show continues to evolve and grow. It feels silly to talk about ‘potential’ after enjoying a musical so thoroughly and with no complaints, but Ride’s accomplishment and the talent on display make me sure that even bigger things lie ahead. It is on a journey perhaps as epic as the one Annie Londonderry possibly probably maybe did undertake, and you would be well-advised to catch it at this exciting, self-assured, and incredibly enjoyable juncture.

Ian Bowkett