We'll Keep a Welcome in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave -- Guest Review by Doctor Terror
Our Town (Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames)
The Brighton radio DJ and comedian Terry Garoghan used to do a show where he sang about Brighton and its surroundings using well-known tunes, culminating in a hilariously overwrought tribute to nondescript urban sprawl Burgess Hill to the tune of Purple Rain. I remember telling him how much my Geordie friend John enjoyed his show despite having no real knowledge of the Brighton area. This really baffled him at first but, as we talked about it more, we realised that everywhere in Britain has its own Churchill Square, its own quirky shops, its own Hanover, Patcham, Kemptown and Whitehawk Estate.
So it's really not too surprising that, for its inaugural production, The Welsh National Theatre took Thornton Wilder's iconic slice of Americana and relocated the fictional Grover's Corners slap bang in the land of the valleys, Tom Jones and Goldie Lookin' Chain.
And pulled it off with astonishing panache! Even if lines like 'Bevan once addressed the crowd from those steps' clearly weren't in the original and required special permission from the Thornton Wilder Estate, there is a point being made here. Somewhere could be 'New Hampshire, Newport (or New Malden)' points out the programme's introduction, neatly weaving Kingston into the mix too. New Malden has the world's largest Korean population outside of Korea itself and its B&Q is the biggest DIY shop in Europe.
Sparkling with a glittering...er...sheen is the new National Theatre's Creative Director, Michael Sheen. As the mysterious, yet instantly relatable stage manager, part ringmaster, part philosopher, part social anthropologist he brings a self-actualised authority to the stage. Too much humour for gravitas and too much sensitivity for advice, he is simply wise. It is a brilliant performance.
As for the ensemble cast, creating and re-creating the town around them through wooden planks, chairs and clumps of pampas grass, they never put a foot wrong. Peter Devlin and Yasemin Ozdemir as young lovers George and Emily particularly shine. Shine...Sheen...such words keep coming, and the play's best bit of lighting, an effect to simulate bright, dappled moonlight, is truly magical.
Such elevation of mundane, everyday events and details to epic status is an idea explored by everyone from Lindsay Anderson to Jack Thorne and Thornton Wilder is a master of it. After all, he wrote Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, Hitch's personal favourite among all his own films and itself a love letter to small town America (albeit with a Merry Widow Killer on the loose).
A town is built by and by served its people. Its people make it what it is. But if we believe there is something universal about human experience and the human condition, then New Hampshire could indeed be Newport...or New Malden. This warmth and universality made me smile as this delicate exploration of humanity came to an end and I stepped out into the Kingston night.
Well, I say it was Kingston. It could have been Rotterdam. Or anywhere.