Choose Life, Choose a Job, Choose a Family, Choose This Little Life of Mine

Izzy (Kate Batter) and Jonesy (James Robinson) think back to happier times, photo courtesy of Charlie Round-Turner

             Pick two: work, relationships, or self-care. Most of you will have seen variations of this work-life balance triangle graphic online. The career one is split between a job that pays well, is in a good location, or advances your career. The college one confronts you with whether or not you want good grades, enough sleep, or a social life. Again, you can only pick two. They might seem somewhat humorous or like melodramatic ultimatums, but for most of us, they’re decisions we face (and struggle to juggle) on a daily basis.

             That’s why the new musical from Michael Yale, This Little Life of Mine, at Park90 has tapped into something entirely human and relatable. Main characters Izzy (Kate Batter) and Jonesy (James Robinson) want it all – their own flat, their first child, and time not only for each other, but also for their friends.

Photo courtesy of Charlie Round-Turner 

             They settle into a small flat, but that’s London for you. Jonesy comes home from work too tired for sex and lusting for a beer, but Izzy is raunchily positioned on the couch ready to pounce, because she’s “ovulating”. It’s a word I thought I would never hear in a song, but “Tick Tick Tocking” somehow pulls it off. That’s the genius of Charlie Round-Turner’s music. They’re propositioned by a married couple they’re friends with who turn out to be swingers. I am reminded of the “Expectations vs. Reality” scene in the film (500) Days of Summer, where the lyrics of Regina Spektor’s song “Hero” ring out: “No one’s got it all.” Pick two.

             It’s true; the course of true love never did run smooth. Although this quote first appeared in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream hundreds of years ago, human nature at its heart is, in essence, predictable. There are ups and downs and when the audience laughs or falls silent during This Little Life of Mine, it’s because that theme, moment, or even a look, resonates with this little life of yours and mine.

Bartender and barista Raphael (Greg Barnett) keeps the alcohol flowing when Izzy and Jonesy's relationship is on the rocks, photo courtesy of Charlie Round-Turner

             One such example is the exchange between Raphael (Greg Barnett), a barista, and Tina (Caroline Deverill), Izzy’s friend. It is in fact Barnett and Deverill who steal the whole show and garner the most chuckles. In a singsong Portuguese accent, Raphael chirpily introduces himself and runs through the expected and dreaded spiel that comes with ordering coffee, much to Tina’s impatience. “When you say you want small, do you mean tall?” What follows is the “Song of the Barista”, which Barnett delivers in a mock somber tone that only adds to its hilarity. When he sprays his cleaning product on the counter with utter determination and not even a quiver of a smile, it’s enough to send me into fits of giggles.

             That’s not to say that Batter and Robinson aren’t strong leads, but when pitted against Barnett and Deverill, who revolve five and four roles respectively, it’s difficult to compete. They are the comedic value, because the storyline involving Izzy and Jonesy is emotional. We watch their relationship slowly deteriorate after a traumatic experience only breeds distance and disconnect rather than the child they long for. The theatre accommodates 90 people and I was sitting in the front row, perched practically in their living room. This made me feel all the more invested in their relationship and all the more eager for it to work.

Jonesy seeks comfort in friend Tina (Caroline Deverill), photo courtesy of Charlie Round-Turner 

             However, life is not full of happy endings. Izzy sings, “When I dreamt of happy ever after, I didn’t really picture it with you” to Jonesy in “Hey Prince Charming” at the beginning of the musical. In the finale number, “My Life Story”, she sings, “In the film of my life, everything will be cinematic wonder and happy ever after, but that’s just movie make-believe.” Both songs highlight the pursuit of perfection, but perfection doesn’t exist. The sooner we come to realize that, the happier we will ultimately be. For a generation that expects to have it all, sometimes all we really need to aim to achieve is contentment with what we already have. This Little Life of Mine perfectly reminds us of just that.

             This Little Life of Mine is running at Park90 in Finsbury Park until 29 October. Book tickets here.

Photo courtesy of Charlie Round-Turner

Our Town Was Made for You and Me

David Cromer, who has reworked Our Town for the Almeida Theatre, also stars in the production in the role of stage manager, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             The Almeida Theatre has welcomed actor/director David Cromer to work his magic with Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. The play has been hailed as one of the best-known and most-performed plays in the United States. It was first introduced on Broadway in 1938 and was revolutionary for its time because it disobeyed typical theatre customs. The play is lacking in set and relies on minimal props and natural lighting to tell the story. Wilder broke the fourth wall, which is usually the boundary separating the audience from the action.

Use your imagination! Mrs. Gibbs (Anna Francolini) prepares "food," photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Indeed, these breaks from normal conventions are evident from the very start of Our Town. The audience is subjected to what can barely be called a stage due to its inclusive nature. Members of the audience are actually situated in the same vicinity as the actors. Two tables with four chairs reside on the space to make up the layout. Cromer acts as the stage manager throughout the play, and as he comments directly to us, this is “scenery for those who think they have to have scenery.”

 Audience members are seated in close proximity to the actors and to the "scenery for those who think they have to have scenery," photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Our Town is appealing because it takes the humdrum and twists it into a production that is watchable and simultaneously relatable. As the description of the play on the Almeida Theatre’s website states, “We all grow-up, we fall in love, we have families and we all die. That is our story.” That is everyone’s story and it’s a universal one at that. You would think that watching a play about something we enact everyday would be monotonous, but if anything, it makes you even more invested in the storyline.

David Walmsley during rehearsal, who plays Emily Webb's friend and eventual husband, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner 

             As little Emily Webb (Laura Elsworthy) awkwardly flirts with her neighbor, George Gibbs (David Walmsley), I can feel the collective sigh of the audience as they recollect their own personal experiences with adolescence. George attempts a marriage proposal over milkshakes and we watch on throughout the marriage ceremony. Emily and George have a family together, but Emily dies young giving birth to their second child.

Laura Elsworthy (Emily Webb) pictured with Daniel Kendrick (milkman Howie Newsome) during rehearsal, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Just like the changing of seasons, we lay witness to a speeded-up version of life’s stages. It was life portrayed in two hours and five minutes, including two intervals, to be exact. You need to be cognizant not to take intermissions from life however. Mrs. Webb (Kate Dickie) and Mrs. Gibbs (Anna Francolini) gossip like neighbors do and prepare food for dinner. The cheery milkman Howie Newsome (Daniel Kendrick) does his rounds, pulling along his imaginary (at least to the human eye) cow. Dr. Gibbs scolds his son for focusing more on baseball than helping his mother.

Milkman Howie Newsome delivering milk with his "cow" in tow, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Professor Willard (Joe Bunker) takes the stage, providing us with a lecture and reciting statistics about the town. Cromer hands members of the audience slips of paper with questions on to ask Willard, which was an inclusion representative of the friendliness and involvement of small towns. In the Almeida Theatre that night, we were all a town in our own right.  

Professor Willard (Joe Bunker) tells the audience all about the history of the town, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             Mrs. Soames (Annette McLaughlin) is the emotional wedding guest as she gushes about Emily and George's beautiful wedding. Members of the community attend choir practice at the local church. Then, of course there is the town drunk and church organist, Simon Stimson (Christopher Staines). Compared to the utter normality of the rest of the town, his unruly behavior lends itself to perpetuating the rumor that he is becoming evermore unhinged.

Simon Stimson (Christopher Staines) drunkenly leads the local church's choir group which leads to an interesting practice session, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             In succinct summary, that is the story of Our Town, but the message is much greater in the grand scheme of things. After Emily dies, she descends to a resting place in the graveyard with others who she once knew in the town. One such resident is Stimson, who took his own life. At first, she is just as full of life as she was when she was alive, but this quickly takes a sharp turn for the worst. Emily is puzzled about the cold detachment of the residents of the surrounding tombstones. She realizes that she is able to revisit a prior time in her life, so she chooses one of her birthdays at home with her parents.

Wally Webb (Arthur Byrne), another resident of the graveyard, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             At this point, the only semblance of a set throughout the entire performance is revealed behind a curtain, fully equipped with things such as: food, a staircase, a kitchen area, a dining room with a table and chairs, and windows. The actors’ British accents have also morphed into American ones, a very subtle change that implies the sameness of all towns. One is like the other is like the other. The people might change, but the stories stay the same.

Emily helps her mother, Mrs. Webb (Kate Dickie), with food preparation, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             With increasing panic, Emily notices that her parents and her younger self hardly look at one another during this otherworldly experience. She exclaims, “That's all human beings are! Just blind people.” Stimson seconds this thought from the grave, claiming that people live in a “cloud of ignorance and blindness.” Perhaps most profound, however, is when Emily poses the question, “Do people realize life as they live it?” Cromer comes in at this point and quips, “Some; saints and poets do.” The answer is most likely a realistic no, especially in London, where everyone seems to be in some sort of a hurry.

Rebecca Gibbs (Jessica Lester) and her brother George enjoy simple pleasures, such as stargazing, in the town, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             I left the theatre concerned for my own mortality, having just viewed the final scene where Emily comes to terms with her death and adopts a stoic stance to the outside world. Even as her widowed husband visits her at her grave, she joins the others in miniscule talk of things such as the weather.

Mrs. Soames (Annette McLaughlin) during rehearsal, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner

             The nature of life is that of a never-ending vicious cycle, much like the washing cycle of a load of laundry that spins and spins until it eventually must cease out of domestic exhaustion. When referring to Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs, Cromer says, half in jest and half in truth, "They brought up two children apiece, washed, cleaned the house — and never a nervous breakdown." Unlike human beings, plays and the characters in them are eternal. Well, let’s all hope we keep pleasure in our lives to a maximum while keeping nervous breakdowns to a minimum.

             Catch Our Town at the Almeida Theatre before it ends its run on November 29^th. Purchase tickets (while you still can!) here.   

That's all folks! As the stage manager, Cromer (pictured here during rehearsal) provides a running commentary throughout the play, photo courtesy of Marc Brenner