Review: Camille O'Sullivan LOVELETTER (Soho Theatre)
- Dan Sinclair
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Review by Dan Sinclair
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Dad used to be a local DJ: weddings, funerals, birthdays at The Kings Arms, Kingsbridge. And my parents are both music people, I’ve spent many a childhood hour on a pub chair with a diet coke and a bag of crisps whilst listening to him run-through Bowie, The Pogues, and sure a lot of S-Club 7 (I love S-Club 7). Camille O’Sullivan’s LOVELETTER reminded me of this time.
Acclaimed Irish singer and actor Camille O’Sullivan brings her show LOVELETTER to the Soho Theatre, after a string of successes at the Edinburgh Fringe and internationally, she brings her unique brooding form of cabaret to London. Accompanied by her old friend, Feargal Murray, it is a brilliantly pure night of music which lets you sit in the poetry and beauty of the work of some of the finest to ever do it, namely Nick Cave, Tom Waits and then the late and oh so great Sinéad O’Connor and Shane MacGowan. There’s rock, comedy, tears, punk, ballads, folk, everything rolled into one ball as O’Sullivan takes over the Soho Theatre, watched over by a giant poodle, a pair of rabbits and an anthropomorphised cat. Fantastic.
The magic of the pared-back arrangement, only Camille and the miracle-working Feargal Murray on piano (and occasionally trumpet, somehow?), is that it puts the lyrics and the storytelling right at the front. The love and appreciation for the art of songwriting runs deep, probably better put as poetry, and the poets that O’Sullivan concerns herself with are the voices she knew best - Shane MacGowan, Sinéad O’Connor. It is with these two that it comes home hard, and then is gone too soon. Like the great Brendan Behan, in our yearning to chase a good story, MacGowan is often remembered, or rather sensationalised in death as he was in life by the tabloids, ‘Fairytale of New York’ gets dusted off, and the rest of his beautiful poetry gets left by the riverside. Camille O’Sullivan puts a stop to this. Mwah Mwah. Kiss Kiss.
At the midpoint of the set, these two friends are brought back together again (Shane and Sinéad) in a performance of their 1994 hit, ‘Haunted’. Quiet and intense, ‘I wanna be haunted by the ghost’ echoes around the room, hanging on the whispered lips of the audience as the disco ball spins. O’Sullivan shines best in these delicate moments, but whether it’s due to the natural awkwardness of a London audience, especially on a press night full of uptights, I didn’t quite feel the spirit run as deep as I could’ve.
With punk epics like Nick Cave’s ‘Jubilee Street’ and some Radiohead blasting, the show races up and down, but the standout moment for me was her performance of Tom Waits’ folk ballad, ‘Martha’. Cuddled up on the floor in a spotlight, every word is dripping with emotion and should be required watching for any young musical theatre singer wanting to learn how to sing through song. It’s remarkably touching and quietly devastating, like a great folk ballad should be. The whole performance feels remarkably free form, but not in a way with any pretence. O’Sullivan makes friends of the audience; she brings us in and yaps about whatever’s on her mind. Cats, ribena, her toes, even stopping to say hello to an old friend in the second row. It’s a bit like watching a Crazy Coqs show, but you’ve dropped a tab of acid in an old friend's living room as they light a candle and play you some of their favourite records, maybe making you a bowl of soup and a cheese toastie.
The lighting and sound team at the Soho Theatre do remarkable work with the small stage (nestled in front of the curtain in the main house). A trickle of haze, a disco ball and some gorgeous lights do wonders. Camille O’Sullivan is a beautiful voice and clearly is a beautiful person who loves beautiful people and beautiful words, a trait in tragic decline. She’ll never play the mainstream hits, but she’ll create a choir wherever she goes. And after leaving the show, I went home and immediately dug out my copy of ‘Rum Sodomy and The Lash’ by The Pogues and got it spinning. Mwah Mwah Kiss Kiss Shane.
LOVELETTER is playing at the Soho Theatre until 6th December. Tickets from: https://sohotheatre.com/events/camille-osullivan-loveletter/
Production photos by Vitor Duarte.