Stitches by Jonathan Blakeley. The Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 to 07 March 2024. 4✩✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.
Stitches by Jonathan Blakeley. The Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 to 07 March 2024.
4✩✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.
“A lifelong friendship memorably told by a Teddy Bear.”
Teddy bears were probably everyone’s best friend at some time in their lives. Jonathan Blakely is Bear, owned by Chloe, and deeply protective of her. He is remarkably foul of mouth for someone who associates with a little girl but never mind that. Bear is undeniably, although stuffed and stitched together, a someone. He meets her when she is first put in her cot as a baby by her grandmother, wearing a red ribbon in his hair, which he dismisses as nothing to do with him, and he is still there years later when she is suffering from Alzheimer’s as possibly her best and closest friend. Blakeley has put together a moving account of Chloe’s life although maybe a little more about the bit in the middle would help, except that part of her life, Bear, like most loved toys, spent shut away in a box in a cupboard so he is not in a position to tell us much. Monologues are tricky things to handle – inevitably there is admiration for the memory required but that doesn’t necessarily mean one is persuaded by the words. However, although the four letter words do rather cascade, Blakeley takes the audience into Bear’s world and through that into the life of Chloe as near perfection as can be. There are the childhood years when Bear is a constant companion, adolescence when he is still around sitting there in her bedroom, still confided in, and we learn quite a lot about her relationship with boys and the discovery of sex, and then the time comes when he ends up shut away in a box out of sight in a cupboard, brought out only on occasions until suddenly he is needed again, a full time companion, someone Chloe can remember. Imaginative use has been made of back projections to illustrate Bear’s life, like when he ends up in a washing machine, and sound od events in Chloe’s life, things he could not have seen, is also added to effect.The piece has been in development for several years and has now reached the stage – it has been a hazardous journey but the result shows it to be one worth making and well worth clambering the Hope’s hazardous stairs to take. Director Samantha Pears has managed to avoid all the pitfalls monologues present – things so happen.
Cast
Jonathan Blakeley – Bear.
Creatives
Director – Samantha Pears.
Set & Costume Designer – Constance Villemot.
Lighting Designer – Mattis Larsen.
Sound Designer – Hattie North.
Movement Director – Charlotte Taylor.
Composer – Thomas West.
