Review: GOING THE DISTANCE - Lawrence Batley Theatre, Oxford Playhouse, The Dukes Lancaster & Watermill Theatre (Online)

Going the Distance is bought to us as a co-production between The Lawrence Batley Theatre, Oxford Playhouse, The Dukes & The Watermill Theatre. 

Written by Henry Filloux-Bennett and Yasmeen Khan, Going the Distance features an array of familiar faces telling the story of a local am dram club’s attempts to get back on its feet and put on its first production post-Covid. 

The storyline works well and there are no particular lulls in the piece, with the use of Stephen Fry as a voice-over feeling a little Little Britain-esque in the way it is delivered. The show would very much work as a TV series and would be great serial viewing to continue the character’s developments. 

Sarah Hadland (Miranda) is the standout performer in the piece as no nonsense marketing guru Rae, who takes up a role on the judging panel, and stage manager as well. She is hilariously straight to the point and harshly blunt, and a character everyone will have come across in their am-dram circles. 

Penny Ryder as Maggie has all of the poignant moments in the piece and really gets the message across about how important theatre is to everyone, particularly the people involved in it and against the backdrop of loneliness from the pandemic. 

Shobna Gulati and Matthew Kelly play divorced couple Vic and Frank perfectly and really get you to empathise with both characters throughout. 

Nicole Evans as Billie is the character that we all love to hate. A celebrity name within the village, she is invited onboard and constantly undermines the direction and the writing laid out before her, not to mention spending the entire budget on her costume. Evans’ characterisation is hilarious and she brings much needed humour to the piece. 

Emma McDonald as Gail does a stunning rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ to end the piece, which really brings home the lovely message about what theatre means to people and how theatre will always carry on. 

As a whole, the piece is light entertainment that, whilst enjoyable, has the potential to be a lot more. It would be great to see it turned into a series and follow what they get up to and the further challenges they face as the characters are so wholesome and likeable. 

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Emma Rooney

Going The Distance is available to stream until 17 October here.