Rebekah Lowings and Andrew Gallo in The Theory of Relativity at the Drayton Arms Theatre, London. Picture: Poppy Carter
The Theory of Relativity continues at the Drayton Arms Theatre, London until 13 June.
Star rating: 3 stars ★ ★ ★
Eight vibrant young talents give 100 per cent to some excellent ballads, amusing duets and even a wild-eyed monologue by an obsessive germaphobe in this very American chamber musical that first saw the light of day in Toronto two years ago.
Written for college students by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, who had a minor on-and-Off Broadway hit with The Story of My Life five years ago, it feels more revue than musical, a show about and for young people energetically performed by (mainly) twentysomethings.
The theme binding the songs together is the human connection, the “I’m nothing without you/And I hope it’s true, you’re nothing without me”¯ punchline of the finale, how we stand motionless on this little rock called Earth hurtling through space and are stirred into a life worth living by the people with whom we connect.
The universal conditions of love, loss and loneliness are here along with the more specific American obsessions with health – the guy who is allergic to cats, the OCD gal who can’t bear to eat the homemade cake her boyfriend has brought her because he’s used his HANDS to make it.
Natasha Karp, who has invented a way of opening doors without actually touching the knob except with her elbows (because it’s been touched by OTHER PEOPLE), makes a terrific job of the cake monologue.
And there’s a sweet duet between the two Canadian members of the cast who took part in the original production, Joshua LeClair (so good recently in She Loves Me at the Landor) and Curtis Brown, who play gay men drawn to each other because of their love of oranges and hatred of apples!
The pay-off to ‘Apples and Oranges’ – that the solution to ending up with the right partner is to ‘Find your favourite fruit!’ – is plum brilliant. LeClair also does really well with the reflective ‘Footprints’ and is a name to watch out for.
Two ballads stand out: American actress Ina Marie Smith’s moving ‘Promise Me This’, about her dying mother, and Guildford School of Acting graduate Jodie Steele’s needy ‘Me and Ricky’. Both are powerful performers.
The biggest cast name, Simon Bailey, so good in the Sondheim two-hander Marry Me a Little at St James and a regular West End performer, is always a pleasure to hear. The fact that he makes no more impression than his lesser-known colleagues only goes to show what incredible young talent we have coming through on the Fringe.
But to get new, unknown songs of this quality into the public consciousness you surely must list them in the programme and say who is singing them. The full-house audience in this tiny pub theatre will have gone home admiring Bartram’s music and lyrics – ‘Great Expectations’, a stirring ensemble piece kickstarted by the guitar-strumming Andrew Gallo and Rebekah Lowings, the second GSA graduate in the line-up, is also memorable – yet won’t have been able to put names to them.
As someone not, I fancy, in the age group at which this lively 80-minute offering, directed by Christopher Lane, is aimed, I found the links between the songs somewhat forced while thoroughly enjoying the cleverness of much of the writing, the wholehearted efforts of an energetic cast and MD Barney Ashworth’s sterling keyboard work.
Jeremy Chapman
www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk
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