Leave To Remain
The Lyric Hammersmith, 18th Jan - 16th Feb
The VAULT festival is not the only place you’ll be able to find some impressive LGBT themed theatre over the next few months as across town, at the Lyric Hammersmith, you can catch brand new musical Leave To Remain, playing until 16 February.
Not since Gus Gowland’s Piece’s Of String at Colchester’s Mercury Theatre last year have I seen an original musical that places gay characters so predominantly centre stage and produced on such an impressive scale. Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely’s memorable musical Closets came close in terms of quality and ambition, if not unfortunately quite matching the same scale of venue that Piece’s Of String and now Leave To Remain gets to enjoy, but all three serve as an encouraging reminder of how times have changed, meaning productions like this are no longer confined to a limited fringe theatre run, but can reach out to both entertain and challenge an equally diverse, albeit more traditional audience that might not typically be found frequenting the more fringe venues.
Here the story centres around two young gay men, Obi (Tyrone Huntley) a British man of Nigerian decent, and his American boyfriend Alex (Billy Cullum) who have decided to get married. Despite the relationship not even being a year old the two have managed to exchange words of love for each other, but there is a sense of urgency to the proceedings given that Alex must now marry in order to secure his leave to remain in the country. It’s a rush that finds the couple not only still discovering things about themselves and each other, but are now faced with having to re-evaluate relationships with their dysfunctional and discriminatory families as a result of the imminent wedding.
Like Closets, the music that threads itself through this production is contemporary in style, little wonder given it being written by Bloc Partie's principal songwriter and lead vocalist Kele Okereke, who fuses West African High Life with throbbing electronica here to provide the plays often pulsating rhythm. Okereke has teamed up with veteran TV writer Matt Jones to help realise his theatrical vision, and with same-sex marriages having only become legal in 2014, the story should have felt as fresh and contemporary as Okereke’s soundtrack. Unfortunately the play finds itself falling back once to often into the rather more familiar territory of an estranged son desperately seeking his families acceptance, and whilst it’s all solid enough dramatically, it does have a tendency to leave the story feeling somewhat dated thematically.
Whilst this in itself serves as a reminder of just how far we have come since the days where a production like this would have shaken it’s audience to the very core! (And millenials take note… that wasn’t so very long ago!), in 2019 the basic premise feels like one that has been seen in any number of drama’s or soap’s. That said, the feelings of rejection and isolation are still very much part of many a young gay man’s reality today, and this could well be the production that holds the mirror up for society to see itself reflected in and reminded of the pain it’s prejudice’s inflict, something Leave To Remain manages to do quite movingly at times.
It’s fantastic cast, Robby Grahams sublime choreography & direction (which I cannot praise enough), and an impressively versatile set design by Rebecca Brower (used to hypnotic effect during a drug fuelled club scene) is what really lifts this production back beyond the confines of it’s occasionally over familiar narrative. When all three of these elements come together against the backdrop of Okereke’s infectious music, this production reaches impressive heights and feels both original and fresh once more. The cracks only re-emerging when the story is again left to fend for itself, and despite many of these particular moments producing a star turn from Cornell S. John as Obi’s father struggling to come to terms with his son's homosexuality, it wasn’t quite enough to prevent me from eagerly awaiting the next harmonious amalgamation of music, movement and performance, of which there were just enough to leave me satisfied by the end of the evening.
The shows opening is one such moment, a whirlwind mixture of dance, song and narrative that takes us on a whistle stop tour of Obi and Alexander’s first 10 months together, all played out within the first 10 minutes of the musical, and containing one of the productions more memorable songs,’Not The Drugs Talking’, showcasing Tyrone Huntley's impressive vocals as well as his undeniable stage presence. It has a pace and an energy that unfortunately takes a while to get repeated, but reemerge it does during scenes like a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous, (Obi’s fiancé being a recovering drug addict) and a dinner where both fiancé’s and family try to navigate a path to through the uncomfortable simmering awkwardness. Whilst Okereke's songs aren’t written in an immediately memorable show-tune tradition, his songwriting style does give the unfolding story plenty of layered emotion and as a contemporary musical I found the songs a lot less of a jarring intrusion to the story than a traditional show-tune would have been. Okereke instead manages to write songs that have a more natural ability to enhance rather than detract from the unfolding emotional drama, and should be commended for trying to find an original voice in an era where the jukebox musical still seems to be king.
★★★ and a half
