Trouble in Butetown - Donmar

I saw the second preview and wasn't very impressed, but hopefully some of the issues might be ironed out during previews. It's an interesting topic - US soldiers from the segregated southern states stationed in Cardiff during WW2, and drawn to (but banned by the US army from) the Tiger Bay area because of its racial integration. It's set in an illegal boarding house run by Sarah Parrish's character with a fairly stereotyped group of residents. It's quite old fashioned in style - straightforward story, one-set play. That's not a bad thing, but it felt too long, the plot was predictable, the characters and relationships lacked nuance, and it suffers from having a child driving the plot. I don't want to be unkind, but there are very few child actors with the skill and knowledge to be able to manage a pivotal role. I wasn't suprised to read that the writer isn't Welsh - it felt like an outsider's romanticised view rather than a nuanced understanding of time and place. It's an ensemble piece, so maybe it will improve over the run as there was a lot of hestitation over lines, etc. 2.5 stars from me, which is being quite generous.

Was at press night this evening, agree with a lot of what people have said. Everything is so broad and interesting themes are dealt with so fleetingly. There were some very enthusiastic audience members (including people laughing at literally anything the young child actor said) but curtain call was polite at best. Can't really fathom what the Donmar saw to pump money into putting this on.

Are the Donmar accepting tickets back for exchange/refund/resale? Does it need to be for a specific reason?

Saw today's matinee and agree with the views above: an interesting subject with immense potential that feels flat in the delivery. I did love the daughter character, Connie, portrayed by Rita Bernard-Shaw with a wonderful blend of determination and innocence.

Some spoilers follow. . .

If you're going to have a first half where you are building characters up for a second half pay off, do it like they did it in "Blues for an Alabama Sky," where character is established by actions (eg: Terera's witty character putting Wiley's bolshy character to bed, her raging at him while he brushes it off with effortless witticisms, mingled with tender affection; or how Ronke Adekoluẹjo’s coy character hilariously fought but failed to contain her own need to flirt with Sule Rimi's dashingly compassionate Doctor). Here, there are no actions, just talk, and we consequently fail to engage and fall in love with these characters.

Against that flatness, excellent portrayals by Sarah Parish, Zephryn Taitte and Ifan Huw Dafydd fail to make the impact they should. Only Rita Bernard-Shaw's fiery innocent Connie made me care about anything, her youthful zest for life, and righting wrongs, somehow infectious, thus drawing us into the narrative. And she sings two songs well, which also helps.

The second half does contain dramatic action, and is more gripping than the first half, but because the characters haven't popped, the whole thing fails to ignite as it should, a firework limply exploding in the audience's faces instead of soaring into their hearts.

The play covers interesting topics (how racism destroys hopes and dreams, mixed race marriages in the 1940s, etc) but, for me, similar topics were explored in the National's "Small Island," that had me caring so much for the characters that the least scene in that play carried more impact than the greatest scene in this play.

Overall, I found the production interesting but uninvolving, except when Rita Bernard-Shaw was emoting. Then I cared.

2 and a half stars from me.

PS: If you do see this, you might want to see Rosie Ekenna as the kid sister, the one the critics were shown.

12 months before Longhurst's contract finishes. I wonder if there are more well-considered revivals in the pipeline.