Riverside Studios
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An unexpected, unparalleled delight
The first five minutes have me sweating in the dark. A barren stage, scattered with casually dressed young actors, and a single spotlight on a lone mic stand. One of the young actors steps up, brandishing a notebook, and begins to recite poetry. At this point, I’m thinking about the lack of an interval and wondering if this was all an elaborate trap to force me to watch a university slam poetry night. Little do I know, I’m about to be proven woefully wrong.
Six short stories, somehow the perfect balance of pathos and humour (and more than a touch of weirdness) and an incredibly versatile cast of five. Aside from a slightly offbeat reading of ‘Bluebird’, Anya Viller’s production completely succeeds in bringing to life Charles Bukowski’s way of seeing magic and meaning in the insignificant.
There’s a particular skill in making an audience of Londoners care about an ordinary American stranger, and this cast absolutely nailed it. I was helplessly sucked in to every character’s world. I cared about the lonely girl who answered a personal ad, the socially challenged mannequin admirer, the post office clerk, the Texan flirt and the loving gangster father. Though each story is totally unlike the others, loneliness and a yearning for human connection is central to all of them, just as it is in Bukowski’s works.
The cast’s raw performances are stark against the simple set, with only a few clever props to represent their surroundings. The portrayals across the board are compelling, however for me there is a particular standout. James Viller’s chameleon-like ability to shift seamlessly between roles is just breath-taking. He inhabits his characters as though he has been them all along, despite the astounding differences between each part.
The show comes to an end, the lights come up, and I find myself completely unprepared to leave this Bukowskian bubble. The show is unlike any I have seen before, and I would strongly urge people to catch it while they can.
https://riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/ordinary-madness-150676/
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