Second Best
Riverside Studios • 6 February - 1 March
Based in the novel by David Foenkinos, Barney Norris’s play Second Best sees Asa Butterfield making his theatrical debut as Martin Hill who finds himself being one of the final two child actors being considered for the role of Harry Potter which, as we all know, he will eventually miss out on due to the casting of “he who shall remain nameless”. Years later Martin finds himself having to deal with the emotional trauma of that moment all over again, triggered by finding himself on the brink of an altogether different adventure… fatherhood. With all the nerves and daunting expectations this new chapter brings, he finds himself unable to stop questioning just how different his life could have been had he just been the the wizarding world’s chosen one. Accompanying his pregnant partner to hospital to get her three-month scan, Martin knows he should be happy, but a number of unresolved emotional loose ends continue to relentlessly fight for his attention
Given that Butterfield himself has been acting since the age of eight, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that he also might have got close to playing roles he would ultimately loose out on during his career, (he was apparently considered for the role of Spiderman, a part that would eventually go to Tom Holland), but having already notched up an almost unbelievable 19 years as a screen actor, (Butterfield is still just 27 years old), the time was clearly right for him to make the transition from screen to stage. Despite the possible whiff of familiarity Second Best’s subject matter might have held for him, (although the unfolding story is much more nuanced and complex than the initial premise would have you imagine), it still seems something of a bold decision to have chosen a 90 minute one man play for his theatrical debut. Add to this the fact that he also finds himself one of the few objects on a vast, dazzlingly white stage, it’s cube like interior brightly illuminated by a vast skylight, and it’s clear that he couldn’t have found himself any more exposed to the scrutiny of the audience if he had tried.
The few pieces of ‘set’ appear to randomly litter the otherwise vacuous stage on first sight, (the purpose of each is however slowly revealed as the play progresses), but, being dressed in black and already sat on stage as the audience take to their seats, there is certainly nowhere for Butterfield to escape the audiences undiluted glare, especially given that there is also no physical way to leave the stage other than to jump off the front and into the auditorium, which he finally does to make his exit at the plays end. And so it would seem the success of this production would be resting solidly on Butterfield’s shoulders. Steered only by Michael Longhurst’s tightly choreographed direction, he is otherwise left with no safety net, nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
Despite that, the early signs are good as we watch Butterfield start to impart his story in an anecdotal way, working the stage and the audience with all the confidence of the countless stand-up comedians that would have appeared just down the road at the Eventim (née Hammersmith) Apollo over the years, and whilst Second Best is clearly not stand-up, it gets way too dark for that, and whilst there’s no denying the actor’s skill in making the more comic moments land successfully when they appear, it is rather for his body language as he works the stage that I make this particular comparison, and in the rather intimate setting of the Riverside Studios, he has no problem in returning the audience’s gaze right back at them in order to make sure his story hits home.
After such an impressively confident start, the play continues with Martin’s reminiscences of the past becoming increasingly more obsessive, and a darkness starts to descend onto the brightly lit white stage, allowing Fly Davis’s impressive set design to conjure up the first of it’s many surprises, and as Martin slowly unravels his secrets, so to does Davis allow his set to revel in revealing it’s own hidden versatility.
Butterfield’s commanding portrayal of the increasingly troubled Martin never falls short of being anything other than thoroughly engaging from start to finish. With his role as Otis Milburn in the Netflix hit series Sex Education we saw the actor depict an adolescent’s transition into manhood, Second Best is the vehicle by which Asa Butterfield successfully manages to make his own transition from screen actor to a very promising stage presence indeed.
★★★★★
Second Best is on at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith until 1st March. Tickets available here
review: Simon J. Webb
photography: Hugo Glendinning