Review: FLYBY (Southwark Playhouse Borough)

Review by Daz Gale & Jack Casson

⭐️⭐️

There's never been a better time for a musical about space travel, with the world captivated by the journey of the astronauts on Artemis II, as well as the incredible success of Project Hail Mary at the cinema. It feels like the stars have aligned for the hotly anticipated premiere of brand new musical FLYBY at Southwark Playhouse Borough, but would those stars be shining down on it in my review, or would this be a space disaster? Strap in, everybody, this may be a bumpy ride.

Developed by National Theatre last year, FLYBY is a genre-busting show fusing space travel with the love story of Daniel Defoe and Emily Baker. The show aims to ask the question of why Daniel Defoe launched himself into space, disappearing into the void. As the story moves from Defoe alone on his spaceship, we see fragments of his past, as details from his relationship with Emily reveal themselves over the course of a singular act (1 hour 45 minutes).

FLYBY is full of promise and potential, and it started well enough with an impressive stage. Configuring the large space at Southwark Playhouse Borough, we enter the space with staggering intimacy with the stylish set thrusting into the audience like a window in a mere corner of Emily and Daniel’s world. Libby Todd’s design somehow combines both Daniel’s apartment and the spacecraft he would find himself on near the story’s end. This was paired with a fantastic use of video design from Adam Lenson and some strong lighting from Nell Golledge in a production that was always visually pleasing and occasionally thrilling.

So what is with the star rating at the top of this review? Well, that is almost where the positives end, unfortunately. The phrase “style over substance” can be used a lot in reviews, and FLYBY is the perfect example of this. Co-creator and director Adam Lenson states in the programme that musicals can hold complexity and emotional contradiction, which is completely true, but it feels as if that has been used in lieu of any sort of substance at all. FLYBY is admittedly quite a unique experience, but that doesn’t necessarily make it good. While it aims to set itself apart from other shows, it forgets the very basics it needs to do so, filling itself with material that is, at best, illogical and at worst unintelligible.

For a show that wants to be original, it borrows heavily from The Last Five Years, only heightening the extremes - if sending yourself into space following (spoiler alert) a messy break-up can be considered an extreme. I’d personally call it a slight exaggeration, as usually a tub of ice cream and a couple of Adele songs do the trick for me. Without completely spoiling it, the final moment of the show has more than a touch of Hamilton to it - if your aim is to make a musical like no other, you probably don’t want your audience leaving the theatre thinking of another show reflected in the very final moment, just to give it my two cents.

Not everything needs to be original, of course, and not everything can be. What a musical needs to be is solid, and FLYBY is far more hollow than I could have ever feared. The heart of the show is the line “Could you build me a distant lighthouse, with you the light to guide me home?” - a valid question, and an intriguing one, certainly. What does it mean? I was keen to find out at the start of the show. 105 minutes later, I still couldn’t tell you. The writing lacks any sense of nuance and makes no sense whatsoever, with holes in the story and feeling as if it is severely underwritten. The dynamic between Daniel and Emily lacks any sort of subtlety and feels ridiculously unnatural in its approach. Relationships may be volatile, but to go from one extreme to another in a split second suggests more than a few corners were cut in characters that prove far too one-dimensional and impossible to care about. 

The writing is by far the biggest problem with FLYBY. Underwritten, underdeveloped, and at times feeling as if it has been generated through AI. I expected a big twist in the show, perhaps to do with the nature of Emily, but nothing was forthcoming. For a show that wanted to be bold and daring, it was all a bit too safe and insubstantial. Clunky dialogue and one particularly uncomfortable line regarding Asperger's that I would say probably shouldn’t have been included set the tone for a production whose writing was nowhere near ready for a paying audience. Its repetitiveness and attempts to be profound come across as flimsy and baseless. Emily, in particular, is eccentric, expounds so much dialogue in so little time, and whilst this does aid in producing an energetic character, it loses itself in expletives and rambling, becoming ineffective. There is merit to be given to the comedy of the piece due to its smart contemporary value, and the piece itself could better itself if it leaned into this more predominantly, but this is once again diminished as scenes begin to rehash the same ideas

I could forgive the weaknesses of the book if the songs were any better, but unfortunately, they all prove to be unmemorable and repetitive. Disregarding the usual structure, they stop and start suddenly, with the underused chorus of three chiming in with a random verse before pausing for more narrative, and consequently doing another verse. This repeats throughout, creating a dizzying loss of time, never knowing where one aspect begins and another ends. It was quite telling that there was no applause in the 1 hour and 45 minutes, though that isn’t always necessary at the end of a song, and some of the biggest numbers in musical theatre move the action along before you have the opportunity to put your hands together; it made for a long and unending evening. An interval wouldn’t have gone amiss purely so I could have taken a moment to get my thoughts in order (some of which I daren’t repeat in this review), though I wouldn’t be surprised if a second Act would have seen a large number of empty seats.

Tonally, FLYBY is all over the place. I can’t discuss this next moment without spoiling the end, so skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know, and just a warning - this is not an exaggeration at all. The show culminates with Daniel on stage in an emotional scene, with tears in his eyes, in a sequence that should, in theory, elicit a similarly emotional response from the audience. And then… a giant turtle appears. No, really. There is some significance to this, given a story told earlier, but it still comes as a surprise as somebody wearing a giant turtle outfit slides across the front row. I imagine the creators thought this would match the emotion of the piece, but the result was an audience attempting to stifle their laughter. This shows the disparity at the heart of FLYBY, with creatives who are admirable in their ambition to do something different, but seem to show a complete lack of understanding of what an audience response will be. Rather than elevate this pivotal moment, it detracted from it, leading to the perfect example of why FLYBY has failed as spectacularly as it has.

There was also some confusion over where the show was set. With NASA involved, you would assume America, but the British accents of the cast and some very British references, led to some confusion. An example of this is a reference to a crush of a member of S Club 7, while a character sports a Trader Joe’s bag. Perhaps this is a bit too pedantic a criticism, but again, it speaks to the inadequacies and underdevelopment of the confused writing.

The other positive aspect that stops FLYBY from being a complete disaster is the sensational cast. Five incredible performers gather on a fairly claustrophobic stage, demonstrating their undeniable talents even when the material lets them down. It is a testament to them that they manage to make FLYBY as watchable as it is, where lesser actors would have crumbled under the confusion from the writing and direction. Rupert Young, Gina Beck and Simbi Akande act as a chorus for the events, regularly appearing as a trio to break up the events between the two leads, doubling as other characters throughout. All three have phenomenal experience, with some legendary roles and even an Olivier nomination to their names, so it is criminal how under-utilised and completely wasted they are here. Their roles are the equivalent of “That could have been an email”, suggesting FLYBY may have flown by a bit quicker had it been a two-hander.

Poppy Gilbert is wonderfully larger-than-life as Emily Baker, delivering the more heightened moments of the story exceptionally in a captivating performance that demanded attention. The standout, however, is Stuart Thompson with his often understated approach to Daniel Defoe. Mastering the art of subtlety, he patiently allows Gilbert to dominate early scenes before coming into his own with an explosive moment. As a vocalist, Thompson excels with his final song when taken in isolation. Yet, once again, this glimmer of emotion is undercut by the aforementioned bizarre callback that infuses an unintentional moment of comedy. The writing also gives the pair an unnecessary obstacle, failing to provide any sort of chemistry or conviction in their dynamic, though this is at no fault of the two talented actors at all.

There's nothing I love more than a new musical, so it pains me to write a review like this after having the highest hopes and the best will towards FLYBY. The intent of the show is certainly admirable, but the execution was nothing short of disastrous in a production as slow as the turtle that appears at a crucial moment. Though the premise asking the question why Daniel Defoe did what he did is promising enough, the show never actually finds a holistic justification for his destructive behaviour, and whilst some of the creative choices and performances of its actors are strong, they are let down by a book and score that are lacking in depth and coherence. Whilst the show begins with potential, the cracks begin to show as dialogue becomes difficult to follow, coming across as rambling and repetitive. It is one thing to want to do something different, and to see something like that is certainly refreshing, but the quality also needs to be there, and sadly, this is where FLYBY falls short in a show seemingly as devoid of life as the vast emptiness of space.

FLYBY plays at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 16th May. Tickets from www.southwarkplayhouse.uk

Photos by Alex Brenner