Song From Far Away by Simon Stephens and Mark Eitzel. Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London NW3 to 22 July 2023. 3***. William Russell.
Will Young gives an impeccable performance in this monologue with song that opened earlier this year in Manchester to considerable acclaim. Sometimes, however, one finds oneself out on a limb and the account of how New York based City trader Willem reacts to the news of the death of his younger brother Pauli back in Amsterdam left me neither shaken nor stirred. We find Young, now a chunky silver haired man in early middle age wearing a sort maternity sweater reading in an anonymous well furnished room presumably in New York, either in his home a hotel, a series of seven letters to Pauli. Ingrid Hu's set is elegant, anonymous, and the curtains on the back wall glide back from time to time to reveal various surprises while we gradually gather the details of just how Willem became estranged from his family and how the grief he feels at his brother's death affects him. The clearly meant contrast between the two cities - New York was once New Amsterdam - an essential part of the why he has ended up where he is and how he is - meant next to nothing to me. There is also a song which we hear in tiny snippets and finally at some length. Young still has a terrific voice and delivers it with a stunning simplicty. Hampstead needs the audiences - it has lost its Arts Council money - so hopefully one will turn out to welcome Young's return to the London stage. They may even agree with the rapturous reviews the piece received at HOME in Manchester. The monologue is always a tricky piece in the theatre and this one for me simply does not work well though it is performed and in spite of director Kirk Jameson's efforts to avoid it being one of those static talks to the audience affairs - Young prowls round the elegant, but anonymous, set rather than just reading the letters to us. But monologues almist always depend on the person listening as to how they succeed so the fault could be mine. A colleague two seats away was entranced by it all. So, if for nothing else, go see Young on top form rising above his material.
Willem - Will Young.
Director - Kirk Jameson; Designer - Ingrid Hu; Lighting Designer - Andrew Exeter; Sound Designer - Julian Starr; Additional Composer, musical supervisor & arranger - Paul Schofield; Dialect Coach - Penny Dyer; Production photographs - Mark senior.
