Review: 'The Last Five Years' at the Pilch

Review: The Last Five Years at the Michael Pilch Studio

So, after two years spent largely doing fifteen OUDS shows (and massively enjoying it), I've had to hang up my Student Theatre gloves, and have decided to keep myself entertained by attempting some somewhat informal weekly reviews. The first show of the year is Manor Road Productions' production of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years - my first ever go at a review and it's musical theatre (about which I know nothing) - take the following with a heap of salt!

After a summer spent performing in various pub theatres and fringe festivals of varying glamour (or lack thereof), partially in the vain (and miserably doomed) hopes of being "scouted," whatever that means, it's comforting to step back into the familiar, intimate Pilch Studio. I'm back in the cradle of OUDS, where we are all afforded the luxury of feeling like a big fish in a small pond, and I've come to see a musical - it blows me away.

The Last Five Years chronicles the relationship of Jamie, a quickly successful author, and Cathy, a struggling actor. Jamie's scenes (or songs) travel forward in linear progressive fashion, but they are interspersed with Cathy's which move backwards in time from the relationship's end, and they meet in the middle for their marriage (The Next Ten Minutes) - it's Memento meets La La Land - an interesting concept, and brilliantly written. Director Louis Benneyworth has elevated this production with two ideas that massively work in its favour. 

The first is to employ an alternating cast, with the two characters being taken on by two pairs of performers - I see the massively talented Phoenix Barnett and Imogen Bowden. 

The second is to utilise the two actors on their "night off" (Rebekah Devlin and Aaron Gelkoff) by having them projected, through some ingenious backlighting onto a large white gauze upstage, as shadows representing and punctuating the presence of Jamie and Cathy. This proves an extremely effective method of storytelling, and the ethereal movements of these large shadow puppets are mesmerising. 

Barnett and Bowden are both captivating, and more than capable of capturing the audience's attention in an onslaught of solo numbers delivered with truth, energy and personality. As Barnett belts his first delightful number (Shiksa Goddess), he has the audience in the palm of his hand, and laughing. All of the cheekiness, humour and charm of Barnett's directing style (I am thinking here of last year's The Critic, and before that, Orlando) comes through vividly here in his performance, and it is a joy to watch. 

Bowden is also performing to an incredibly high standard - we feel her frustration and pain towards the end of the relationship, and this is only made more impactful by the optimism and life we then see in her younger self. Her highlight is probably A Summer in Ohio, imbued with palpable energy and dry humour. 

My only criticisms are stagecraft-related - both actors could stand to use the entire thrust space more confidently, and be careful of aimless shuffling of feet - but these are small technical quibbles about performances persistently filled with life and charisma.

Although I confess to knowing next-to-nothing about singing or playing for musical theatre, I must say that everything sounds incredible. A live band massively enhances audience experience, and special mention must be given to the string section (Kat Vincent and Peter Murray on cello, Felix Pattern on violin, Jules Khong on guitar), which sounds beautiful. Additionally, the impressive vocal power and versatility of Barnett and Bowden is evident even to my musically-uneducated self.

The storytelling is made completely clear by Alexandra Russell's LX design, which draws audience attention effortlessly to one character or the other (or their silhouettes) when both are occupying the same physical space, but different temporal locations in their journey together from young love to emotional defeat. 

As I leave the theatre and step out into the cool, grey air (it's Matriculation Day for many freshers, and I regret that they don't have better weather for it), I am glad that my first review can only be a positive one. Benneyworth and the whole team at Manor Road have given us a brilliant start to our new year of Student Theatre - my excitement about theatre has increased. Now, someone must go and find out how on Earth they managed to get such a powerful, polished production ready for 1st week of the new year!?

8/10

Thanks are due to my friend Izzy Moore, for the helpful insights of our usual post-show chat.