Review: Bonnie & Clyde (Old Joint Stock Theatre)

Review by Raphael Kohn

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What started as a cult musical, first on Broadway and then in the West End, beloved by the fans but received at room temperature by the critics, has turned into a fringe hit. Bonnie & Clyde, a musical about its titular outlaws in the Great Depression, had a wobbly start in the UK with London runs that received mixed reviews at best and a tour that was cancelled halfway through its journey on the road. This time though, it’s brand-new, revitalised by a new team and implanted into a tiny little space on top of a pub in Birmingham. The result is quite surprising.

It’s an ambitious project, and that’s really saying something for this tiny pub theatre that has made its reputation from staging energetic revivals of modern musicals in its small space. Cramming fourteen performers onto the stage, director Emily Suzanne Lloyd sets out to reimagine the show for a smaller scale. It hardly feels like that though, with the 100-seater venue stretched to the absolute limit of its flexibility in a polished production that defies the boundaries of fringe theatre.

It's centred on its titular outlaws, this time played by India Lily Cooper and Samuel Murray as Bonnie and Clyde. They are, quite simply, a match made in heaven. Cooper is given the better arc by the script, transforming from her softer, gentler self in the beginning into a fully-fledged outlaw by the second, perfectly capable of wielding a gun with confidence. She matches this with a crystal-clear voice taken straight from the gods, growing into a grittier belt as the show goes on. Opposite her, Murray’s powerful tenor and imposing performance makes for an engagingly hell-raising Clyde.

They’re surrounded by the biggest cast the Old Joint Stock has ever had, with a particular highlight in Hannah Victoria’s ice-cool Preacher, blessed with getting to perform the show’s best numbers. ‘God’s Arms Are Always Open’ gives the first act a blast of gospel energy, while the second is opened by the darkly satirical ‘Made In America’, and they’re both so entertaining thanks to Victoria’s performance.

Meanwhile, Faye Campbell gets a tragic moment as Blanche Barrow while Killian Thomas Lefevre makes the most of his role as Buck, both tensely opposed to Davis Weaver as the Sheriff of the town. Each gets a fleeting moment of drama, and are excellently carried out, though there’s not really enough meat in the text for any of them to truly sink their teeth into and flex their performing muscles.

They’re all carried through by Ben Barrow’s passionate musical direction, taking the show at quite a lick and never letting the energy drop. Though the show is re-orchestrated to four musicians from the original nine, it sounds excitingly fresh, as if there’s a real, wild-west saloon band sitting right above us the whole time.

In keeping with the venue’s ambitious aspirations, designer George P Martin reconfigures the already small playing area into traverse, creating a catwalk-like saloon in the middle. It certainly looks stylish and upmarket, with wooden floorboards and shattered glass lining the set, although this creates its own problems when the floorboards creak distractingly loudly at the most inopportune moments as performers step or wheel props across them. Martin drenches the second act in confetti, perhaps inspired by the recent Evita in the West End, but here it lacks purpose and puts style over substance.

Luckily though, the visuals are stunningly perfected by Joanne Marshall’s lighting, which illuminates the production with cinematic flair through a cloud of haze. Sparingly designed, with more enthusiasm for darkness than light, Marshall toys with shadows to create an air of mystery throughout. It may be a small space, condensed further by the traverse, but Marshall hides tricks up her sleeve with an excellent set of lights concealed beneath the floorboards to create some truly dramatic effects.

I’ll admit that they’re working with some mixed source material. The first act is strong, a blaze of a rootin’-tootin’ musical western inspired by rock, folk, and musical theatre styles. It’s all held together tightly by its bright energy and snappy tunes (courtesy of Frank Wildhorn’s music and Don Black’s lyrics), which I dare say sound even more thrilling here in the Old Joint Stock than they did in the West End a few years ago. Going into the interval, it’s a thrilling crowd-pleaser.

This, however, gives way slightly to a messy second act, in which Ivan Menchell’s book (even from the beginning, a bit underwritten and unfocussed) loses sight of the plot in favour of insipid political messaging and dry writing. Wildhorn and Black’s music starts out strong with the pumping ‘Made In America’, but somehow then gives way to a series of reprises which grind the pace down. It is, however, undeniable that of all the productions of Bonnie & Clyde you’ll ever see, you’ll find it difficult to see it done better than this one thanks to the way they play to the strengths of the piece to the limit.

Whatever you think of the original material, the Old Joint Stock have created something that will surprise and engage every single theatregoer who sees it. Bursting with energy and with plenty of visual surprises in store, this is simply the latest in a string of successes for this venue, proving that with a bit of creativity and a lot of passion, practically anything is possible in a fringe theatre. Even if it doesn’t go on to have a future life in another venue (and I really hope it does), the world will remember this production without a doubt.

Bonnie & Clyde plays at the Old Joint Stock theatre until 2^nd November 2025. Tickets from https://www.designmynight.com/birmingham/pubs/city-centre/the-old-joint-stock-theatre/bonnie-clyde-the-musical

Photos by Perro Loco Productions