THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Nica Burns has opened the first new-build theater in the West End for 50 years. Just beside Tottenham Court Rd tube station it is on the site of the old Astoria and part of the huge regeneration of that spot linked to the marvellous Elizabeth Line.
Burns, a successful impresario, as well as co-owner of the Nimax theatre chain, has created an impressive flexible 602 seat auditorium which will be mainly in-the-round. It has been 12 years in development and it fits into a plan to have more suitable spaces to try out smaller scale work, which may, for example, have started in regional theaters but deserves a West End berth.
For her opening production she has brought in a rather special find from the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. The play celebrates the life of one of the town’s more famous residents. Neil Baldwin (76), who was born with learning disabilities (although that’s not a label he accepts) is an honorary graduate of Keele University, a registered clown (he’s worked in circuses), kit man and mascot for Stoke City Football Club and the subject of an award-winning BBC drama Marvellous (2014) in which he was played by Toby Jones. His 60 year relationship with Keele University began when he just walked into the Student’s Union one day offering to “help”.
The New Vic, the oldest purpose-built theater in the round in Europe, is run by Theresa Heskins and she has created the piece for such a space under the watchful eye of Malcolm Clarke (an old friend of Baldwin) and the man himself.
Six actors, some of whom are also neurodiverse, play different aspects of Neil with the addition of Michael Hugo, who is astonishing in the lead as ‘Real Neil’. He combines the roles of narrator and one-man Greek Chorus for the piece. He interrupts and fights off Charlie (understudy Shelley Atkinson), a cast member who wants her chance to deliver some improvised poetry. It opens with him seated in the audience, which flummoxed the first night crowd because the real Real Neil Baldwin was also seated further along.
The play is a straightforward chronology, but Heskins uses slapstick and panto and circus to enliven it and make it compelling and fun particularly for a young audience. It ends up charming all ages.
Neil’s transparent goodness and bonhomie charmed everybody from football managers to royals to the Archbishop of Canterbury and Hugo brilliantly captures the man’s natural comic gifts, with that deadpan manner of speech which disarmed all he met. The piece never stoops to sentimentalizing him however and we learn of his struggles in schools and in jobs when he was casually bullied, being laughed at rather than with, by those who should have known better. Without preaching, Heskins is great at giving agency to Neil and the neurodiverse actors she uses. It is the key to the piece.
The talented cast radiates warmth. Gareth Cassidy, who is wonderfully adept at accents, plays everyone from Neil’s father to a pet monkey, and Jerone Marsh-Reid combines acrobatic energy with a talent for playing the crowd. Daniel Murphy is wonderfully droll as a series of vicars and bishops - Neil couldn’t decide between becoming a vicar or a clown. The piece is steeped in English traditions of panto but at the same time has a wonderfully placid vibe of rural England about it, with the cast sweetly singing a wonderful church hymn at one point.
Suzanne Ahmet is perfectly poignant as Neil’s naturally protective mother who has to gently push him from the nest, even if this just means moving 3 doors down. Her teaching him to cook unleashes a mad slapstick section in the second half with flour and eggs flying.
This new theater makes a great addition to the West End and this warm, gentle piece is a suitably positive and optimistic opener.
