Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adley Gurgis. Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London NW3 to 15 June, 2024.

3✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“All stops pulled out performance by Danny Sapani almost saves the day.”

Had I actually been able to hear what some of the cast were saying this comedy about life, death and lies might have got that extra star – certainly the reviews of its performances in New York where the play was first staged suggest there is more to it than we get in this fussily staged and occasionally not very well acted production directed by Michael Longhurst. The set is a clutter of bits and pieces, which may be is intended to convey the mess Walter Washington, known as Pops, the main character, is living in, but simply suggests the designer could not make up their mind what to do. It has a bridge over it on which various characters stand on to have one to one conversations from time to time that seems to belong nowhere in particular. The exception to the vocal problems of the cast is Danny Sapani, who plays Pops and gives a magisterial, wickedly funny performance that deserves a better production. The rest of the cast do not offend all the time vocally, but enough to render chunks of the play hard to understand – as my neighbour volunteered at the interval , it needed surtitles. The front half of the stalls seemed to get it but I suspect there is a dead area at the rear where we were beneath the gallery overhang which one would have thought directors staging work there knew all about it. But hitting the back row of the Gods is a lost art.

The landlords want Walter out of his posh apartment, the New York Police Department want him to settle a lawsuit against them involving a shooting of white cop in which he was involved, the drug addict wants his money, as does the lady from the church who comes to call – a clearly spoken performance by Ayesha Antoine - while the motives of his son and the various women in his life, including his son’s girlfriend, who may or may not be on the game, are nowhere near as good as they seem. It adds up to a chaotic life for Pops but he is a survivor, or at least that is what the end would suggest when he appears to walk out into the sunlight. The reasons for all the chaos Pop finds himself in would seem very specific to New York which makes it all harder to understand here but Sapani’s performance almost saves things.

Ayesha Antoine – Church Lady.

Cast

Tiffany Gray – Lulu.

Martins Imhangbe – Junior.

Daniel Lapaine – Lieutenant Dave Caro.

Sebastian orozco – Oswaldo.

Judith Roddy – Detective Audrey O’Connor.

Danny Sapani – Walter Washington – Pops.

Creatives

Director – Michael Longhurst.

Designer – Max Jones.

Lighting Designer – Anna Watson.

Sound Designer &Composer – Richard Hammarton.