It's great that one of the best productions of last year - Bijan Sheibani's staging of Beth Steel's Till the Stars Come Down - has made it across the river from the National Theatre to the (faintly) glittering West End.
By turns rambunctiously comic and very moving, Steel's portrait of a Nottinghamshire family gathering to celebrate the wedding of the youngest daughter, Sylvia, to a Polish migrant, Marek, was a true popular success, and a refreshing one. It's not a sub-journalism real person / impersonation play and it's not a star vehicle. Rather it's a heartfelt, Chekhov-influenced ensemble piece about a family dealing with change, as well as a community portrait, and, subtly, a state-of-the-nation play with a distinctive cosmic undertone as well.
I said most of what I had to say about the play in my review last year, but since the transfer comes with a few new elements, I wanted to record a few more impressions of it here.
Firstly, the Haymarket production provides some on-stage seating on three sides - definitely the place to be if you want to duplicate the up-close NT Dorfman experience. The show is as intimate and audience-inclusive as it was at the NT, but the bigger space gives it a grander quality that does justice to its wider themes. Last year, too, the show premiered in wintertime. Now, there's a lovely immersive aspect to seeing, in the summer, a play set on a sweltering summer day.
Some new additions to the cast bring different textures as well. Lorraine Ashbourne had a major comic triumph in the role of Aunty Carol at the NT - here, Dorothy Atkinson brings less bite to some of the banter but contributes a spoiling-for-a-fight quality to the part that feels just right. As the middle sister, Maggie, whose experience of an illicit attraction connects her across the generations to the character of Carol, Aisling Loftus brings similar plaintive notes as Lisa McGrillis did to a character whose early confidence has been challenged by life's disappointments.
A mild casting controversy attended the British actor Marc Wootton's appearance as the Polish groom at the NT. I thought Wootton was brilliant in the role, and, while his replacement, Julian Kostov (of The White Lotus), does perfectly well here, Wootton's stronger physical presence is missed. (Kostov isn't Polish, either, he's Bulgarian, but apparently that's close enough to count.)
Among the actors returning to their roles, Sinéad Matthews remains a total wonder as the dreamy, anxious bride who belatedly learns to assert herself - everything Matthews does feels fresh, new-minted, surprising, and true. And Lucy Black digs ever deep into the bitterness and fears of the oldest sister, Hazel, resentful of the changes in the community and reluctant to confront a marriage that's on the cusp of imploding.
Fair-minded and generous in its perspective, Steel's play is really built, so that different details emerge as more poignant each time - whether its the sisters reminiscing about a special last trip out with their now-deceased Mam, or Philip Whitchurch's Uncle Pete toasting to the former pit towns and making their names an incantation.
The play's swing from social comedy to harrowing emotional intensity remains a big one, and despite Black's haunting display, the end still feels slightly truncated ("Is it over?" asked the young guy next to me) - though more meaningful when you know it's coming. Still, Till the Stars Come Down remains a triumph - a gloriously entertaining and exhilarating experience, and a rare example of new writing that lights up the West End.
Till the Stars Come Down is booking until 27 September. More information here.
