August In England - Bush Theatre (2023)

Good season overall

Going next Saturday instead of watching the coronation - looking forward to it!. I have one of the cheap count me in tickets, wonder where they'll put me.

Every time I have done Count me In so far I have ended up in first row which is perfect. Don't think is people who have not turned up on the day as they send the ticket with the seat the day before. I was just wondering, in this case, if I'll be that lucky to get front again, if it's sold out (although maybe won't be on the coronation afternoon...). Anyway I look forward to seeing this, and then Retrograde in the evening!

Re the seat- at yesterday's matinee I was in third row of block C, it was a really good seat, but to be honest anywhere would have been good for this play as Lenny Henry walks around and turns often in every direction, in the most engaging and natural way. I only wish I'd got one of the rum shots :-D I think it was sold out but there were a handful of free seats, perhaps some people too taken with the coronation to turn up.
I really enjoyed this show. Lots of very funny lines and references to places and people the audience was familiar with but also incredibly moving especially at the end, where the whole theatre was in floods of tears. Definitely this one and Retrograde in the evening are the two highlights of my year so far. Both deserve to be seen by more people.

I concur with what everyone above has said.

This is a brilliant show.

It is a tad predictable, but despite that, it is a terrific character portrait, it's dramatic, more than often hilarious, and somehow, simultaneously poignantly sad and moving.

Some spoilers follow. . .

There is the occasional flicker in Lenny Henry's portrayal of his character, August, that suggests something is not right with his world, like he's in the Matrix, and hasn't yet taken his red pill.

We all know what the red pill will show him, given this is a Windrush story, and for that reason, the structure is somewhat predictable: a happy go lucky, flawed but endearing fellow, trying to live his best life, is going to run headlong into Theresa May's hostile environment nightmare.

But if the macrocosmic trajectory of the story is predictable, the microcosmic details of August's life are not, and besides, absolutely nobody in the world could play this part better than Henry, with all his early career comic skills brought to bear, in the writing and in the performance, and all his late career acting skills brought to bear as well, allowing the work to turn from belly laugh hilarious to desperately moving, on a dime.

Henry conjures the universal from the specific, writing about things he knows, such as Dudley and ska, fierce Grandmas and racist incidents, while painting a picture of a wholly recognisable life, of peer pressure, school days, starting a business, falling in love, having children, being a flawed human being but trying to be better.

The comedy of surprise and the comedy of recognition find a perfect vessel in Henry's glad-handing and heart-warming comedic skills, which, blended with propulsive reggae music , and the universal story he tells of simply living life and making mistakes, bonds and boards the whole audience onto a joyful fast moving story bus that is fast heading on a collision with a brick wall of callous politics.

Despite its predictable elements, this is a fantastic experience of comedic and dramatic storytelling at its very best, and it packed a massive punch of 4 and a half stars for me! Definitely deserves a transfer!

I was there yesterday. I am not sure it is a good play as such (linear life story, topic is well known) but I was impressed by LH's acting. I had only seen clips of him as a comedian and it was a revelation. Without spoiling the end, I was deeply moved by it, and angry. Not sure it is a proper dramatic ending either but it works. I loved it, 4 1/2* and not 5 because at times my attention drifted a bit. Worth a transfer.