VINCENT RIVER  ☆☆☆☆☆
TRAFALGAR STUDIOS, LONDON

This is a must-see, muscular revival of a play first performed at the Hampstead Theatre back in 2000. Philip Ridley’s masterpiece has lost none of its explosive power with this production which is directed by Robert Chevara with great clarity and an unbroken line of tension from curtain up to curtain down.

Anita (Louise Jameson) is settling into her new flat in Dagenham having just moved from the east end when she receives an unexpected visitor – an anxious young man called Davey (Thomas Mahy).

What does he know about the tragic death of Anita’s son Vincent who was killed in a homophobic attack? He claims to have found the body and needs to know more in order to find closure. What happens over the next 80 minutes is the cut and thrust of two traumatised souls, each one dealing with bereavement and loss in different ways. Each one with their own dark histories, secrets and lies.

Wanstead born Louise Jameson was shortlisted for the 2019 Off West End Awards for ‘Best Female Performance In A Play’ and she brings an extraordinary broad range to the role – sometimes an east end lush (lending the text a precise cadence only a true east-ender can produce), sometimes the no-nonsense matriarch, sometimes the grieving mother, alternating between desolation and fury.

Thomas Mahy (in his first professional role in London was also nominated in the Off West End Awards) is like a loaded gun, he ensures Davey’s presence alone is frightening yet the questions we have about his motivations are tantalisingly posed, answered then posed again as the plot twists, turns and unravels. Ridley plays with the narrative and monologues to heighten our emotional response and although Vincent River pivots on hate, anger and violence you leave the theatre with a genuine sense of hope that raw honesty can bring.

https://trafalgarentertainment.com/shows/vincent-river/
UNTIL JUNE 22ND

REVIEW: JONNY WARD 

Jonny Ward, Queerguru Contributing Editor is a drama graduate but has worked backstage for many years at venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, The 02, Southbank Centre and is currently at The National Theatre. He lives in Hoxton, London and is delighted to check out the latest, the hottest and the downright dodgy in queer culture for Queerguru. (P.S. He is currently single)