I love seeing shows in London's smaller theatres and so, last night, I went along to see “Imagine This” at the Union Theatre. I knew nothing about the show beforehand and never actually heard of the show but the premise intrigued me.
Set in the Warsaw Ghetto at the start of WWII, a group of actors put on a play, set in Rome during the siege of Masada, which is performed as two interlinking stories on stage.
Lauren James Ray played her role, Rebecca/ Tamar, extremely well. Her ability to show emotion shone and her chemistry with Shaun McCourt (Adam/ Silva) was electric. Whilst you believed they were two people in love, in both Poland and in Rome, I didn't feel their characters were given enough time to develop. Particularly as two jews in the middle of WWII, I felt more for the Roman Jew and Roman soldier who had fallen in love against the odds in the play they were performing, which had less to do with them and more to do with the book.
During their duets, their voices blended together seamlessly and their partnership worked. However, due to the nature of the space, microphones aren't used and, at multiple times throughout the night, I found the music overpowered the vocals and as a result lyrics were lost.
The stand out role for me was Nick Wyschna (Daniel/ Eleazar). His voice had a power to it that rose above the music and not once did I struggle to hear him and he has an innate ability to show emotion in a single, simple look. He is definitely a talent I will aim to see more of in the future. I do think he was aided in that his character was one of the only ones who did get the development they deserved throughout the course of the show.
I was also impressed with Rob Hadden as Otto/ Rufus, who had the most noticeable difference between his Polish character and the Roman soldier he portrayed.
Overall, whilst this show definitely has some issues, I was very impressed with how the director, Harry Blumenau, used the small space and I do think the show benefited from the intimacy that the Union Theatre provides. The cast were strong and worked together well and I would definitely say it's a show worth seeing once.
Set in the Warsaw Ghetto at the start of WWII, a group of actors put on a play, set in Rome during the siege of Masada, which is performed as two interlinking stories on stage.
Lauren James Ray played her role, Rebecca/ Tamar, extremely well. Her ability to show emotion shone and her chemistry with Shaun McCourt (Adam/ Silva) was electric. Whilst you believed they were two people in love, in both Poland and in Rome, I didn't feel their characters were given enough time to develop. Particularly as two jews in the middle of WWII, I felt more for the Roman Jew and Roman soldier who had fallen in love against the odds in the play they were performing, which had less to do with them and more to do with the book.
During their duets, their voices blended together seamlessly and their partnership worked. However, due to the nature of the space, microphones aren't used and, at multiple times throughout the night, I found the music overpowered the vocals and as a result lyrics were lost.
The stand out role for me was Nick Wyschna (Daniel/ Eleazar). His voice had a power to it that rose above the music and not once did I struggle to hear him and he has an innate ability to show emotion in a single, simple look. He is definitely a talent I will aim to see more of in the future. I do think he was aided in that his character was one of the only ones who did get the development they deserved throughout the course of the show.
I was also impressed with Rob Hadden as Otto/ Rufus, who had the most noticeable difference between his Polish character and the Roman soldier he portrayed.
Overall, whilst this show definitely has some issues, I was very impressed with how the director, Harry Blumenau, used the small space and I do think the show benefited from the intimacy that the Union Theatre provides. The cast were strong and worked together well and I would definitely say it's a show worth seeing once.