Review: SECOND BEST, Riverside Studios
Photo credit: Hugo Glendinning
Adding to a beyond fruitful career of almost twenty years in film and TV, Asa Butterfield is making his stage debut in Second Best; a playful, poignant story about fate, loss and how you define your worth, originally written by novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director, David Foenkinos, translated by Megan Jones, and now adapted beautifully for the stage by award-winning playwright and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Barney Norris.
The creative team of Second Best has done a great job of cultivating, for us as a crowd, the perfect headspace with which to take in the show before we even sit down in the studio auditorium, and so, to ensure you the same impactful experience we had, we will do our best to protect it. Those who know Butterfield as Otis in Sex Education, or indeed any of the expansive list of credits he has attained in his remarkable career thus far, can see him here taking on an avenue of maturity never before explored – fatherhood. The show follows the unravelling train of thought of Martin Hall as, faced with the approaching birth of his first born, he reflects on his own childhood and, at the centre, his experience at ten years old on the brink of stardom when, down to the final two contenders, he narrowly misses out on the chance to play the role of Harry Potter.
Butterfield’s acting talent has never been up for debate, but this production goes far in proving it once and for all. Before the show even begins, when the hum of the crowd fades and in a lingering silence, we take in the moment with him, the bubbling suspense in the room is down to the fact that we know what he can do, and yet he still manages to blow us away. In this brave context where the audience has no certain expectations and rather follows their intrigue to the theatre, he wins us over instantly, the first laughs ringing through the crowd within minutes. From his opening line, there is no doubt in his capability to navigate a stage, as he walks right up to the supposed barrier between him and us and instigates instant connection, the limit to which disappears the minute he manages to capture the sweetness and intimacy of falling and being in love, completely alone.
Brilliant voice work and control of projection makes for a truly impactful performance in every way. Combining the charm of stand-up comedy and the gravity of a motivational speech, Butterfield keeps his audience captivated as he explores every angle of an honest look inwards. He takes to the stage with dynamic fluidity and expressive presence, blending the monologues through the fourth wall and the dialogue that closes it brilliantly. His impeccable pace and timing soon stands out as his secret weapon in guiding us smoothly through a narrative structure that could have easily been jagged or jarring, and see it come full circle with a heartwarming conclusion for us and a standing ovation for him.
This is all achieved with the help of renowned director, Michael Longhurst, previously artistic director of Donmar Warehouse and currently juggling a trio of incredible projects in Second Best, the Next to Normal pro-shot and Royal Shakespeare Company’s Much Ado About Nothing. His production of Constellations amongst others has earned him something of a prowess for casting that matches exquisitely the stars of the moment with the context of the show at hand, tackling the theme of untethered time and filling a stage with shining simplicity, all of which he continues absolutely in Second Best. This is a show intricately designed with stunning attention to detail and out-of-the-box thinking. With effective mirroring between tales, little callbacks let impact seep deep into a strong undertone as Longhurst peels back layers and brings a satisfying sense to things and achieves literal structure to the chaos of a spiralling mind.
A simple but intricate set by Fly Davis is one of question marks and exclamation points. It is a space that births a spectacle to behold as we are emotionally and physically taken to precarious places. Inspiring a feeling much like a moment cut out of reality or an art installation in itself, this wonderfully imaginative stage excels in an abstract style, blending the fantasy element of Second Best with our sense of reality. In a clever extension of the themes at its core, the production in general begins to feel like a series of magic tricks as everything seems to appear out of thin air like it really is a manifestation of a state of mind. The set goes through changes as it interacts with epic practical and sound effects and lighting begins to emphasise turbulence. As physical impressions of Norris’ words see the previously pristine art of the stage become something of a mess, we reach a point of literally putting things back together and bringing a clear, developed focus to the forefront, basking in warmth from the light at the end of the tunnel the story having become one of overcoming. In this way, a simple small stage is able to take us by surprise as we discover this show is so much more than what it says, much like a magician pulling a continuous stream of knotted up handkerchiefs from their pocket.
Second Best is a seamless, interweaving tapestry of storytelling, emphasised with genius use of adaptable props. At the core of the viewing experience is this feeling of being there for somebody and the privilege of being let in. We view him as a friend, from how he is outwardly, to when he starts to disappear gradually into himself and his past. We see him letting go of certain crutches, allowing himself to be pulled down to the depths of it, and as we do we feel it all building, rumbling, crashing, lingering, and even in the very few moments where the turn of the path is predictable, the building anticipation pays off threefold. In a profound way, the show highlights how it can all be true, that there are funny moments to hardships, there is laughable irony in pain, it’s the silliness and plain stupidity you hear when you say out loud what your anxious brain has tried to convince you of. All of you have laughed as tears streamed down your face, it is all but guaranteed, human beings contain multitudes, don’t they?
It is a show with weight. It is a show that tickles. It is a show that has you so absorbed that it is beyond your control not to clasp your hand over your mouth and avert your gaze for the perfection and shock of the reveal, to sit head cocked to the side, a blockade of tears or instinctive words of kind advice or something resting at the top of your throat, pushing up your eyebrows, kept at bay by the mindboggling fact that none of this is actually real, and finally, as the production comes to an end, having no emotional restrain left to not let free the tune of a plucked heart string.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Louisa Clarke
Second Best plays at Riverside Studios until 22 February, with further info here.
