Review: Precipice (New Diorama Theatre)

Review by Daz Gale

⭐️⭐️

London's New Diorama Theatre certainly has form when it comes to new musicals, being the first home of a little show called Operation Mincemeat (now on its 17th West End extension for anyone still counting), so it was with much excitement that I ventured there to check out the debut of another new musical, Precipice. A unique collaborative process from a group of individuals who also have form, one of whom just enjoyed enormous success with the sensational Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, would Precipice be able to secure its own future or would it risk extinction before it had even begun?

Precipice is set in a towering high-rise building in Greenwich across two different Centuries. As a biomedical emergency in the near-present causes a young couple to confront their complicity, we also skip ahead 400 years in the future as civilisation seems to be all but extinct, apart from the small group who have built a community and home for themselves in this same high-rise building. As their remaining power begins to fail, have they done enough to secure their future, or would this be the end of the line for them?

The debut show from Timelapse, a unique collaboration process from Stu Barker, Rachel Bellman, Darren Clark, Annabelle Lee Revak, Shaye Poulton Richards and Adam Lenson, whose collective track records speak for themselves. These six writers spent 50 days together over the course of two years to create what would go on to be this musical. Notes in the programme states the entire project is the result of this collective collaboration, with no aspect attributed to one specific person in the group. And there lies the first problem with this show.

It is an admirable idea to come together, and one that feels refreshing in a climate that can feel samey and repetitive. In some shows I have reviewed this year, I commented that one person cannot do it all and encouraged the art of collaboration as this is when you can challenge each other’s ideas and, in theory, uplift each other to achieve greater things, That hasn’t quite happened with Precipice. It may be a cliché, but with six people bouncing around ideas to shape a show, it feels a little bit like “too many cooks”. The result is a confused mish-mash of ideas that never quite knows what it wants to be or how to get there.

Avant-garde theatre is one thing, being weird for the sake of weirdness is another. I couldn’t quite understand what it was achieving by being so distinctly different, particularly with the use of sound and narrative style. I had the overwhelming sense that these were all nuggets of ideas that hadn’t been fully formed, and had been used before they had been fully fleshed out. Tonally, Precipice was also all over the place. Though it bills itself as a dark comedy, the jokes were few and far between, with lines that I expect were inserted to elicit big laughs receiving awkward silences instead. Where the show could have had a message about certain dangers and the risk of extinction for humanity, these never came across with an unclear narrative.

For a show that wanted to be something new, I kept feeling like I had seen it before. The idea of an apocalyptic future where a group of survivors may well be the last humans alive on Earth has been done multiple times, with the uncertainty of whether they may stumble upon anyone else alive and the unknown of what lurks outside has been done to death. If Precipice hoped to add something new to this tried and tested genre, this was not it. In terms of originality, the standout number ‘View Of The Thames’ seemed to bear more than a passing resemblance to the Alanis Morissette song ‘Right Through You’, whether the writers are aware they have done that or not. Though there is a strong use of sound in Precipice, it comes across at fairly noisy, lacking any sense of harmony with many of the songs lacking a melody.

Though there are some astonishing writers in this project, the writing on offer in Precipice is not of the standard I would expect from any musical theatre writer, let alone ones of this calibre. A song about the game Monopoly where characters shout some of the property names and tokens (“Dog! Battleship!”) may well be the most painful sequence I have seen in a theatre this year, and given some of the previous shows I have seen, that is no mean feat. Nonsensical lyrics feature throughout, with ‘How Did They Make A Sandwich?’ a prime example of the quality that somehow was deemed strong enough to stage. The dialogue didn’t fare much better, with “I should probably cancel my Pret subscription” and “The aisles at Waitrose were half underwater” some of my favourite examples.

The only element that stops Precipice from being a total catastrophic disaster is its sensational cast. Performed by a group of actor-musicians, they impress with their abilities, almost making the questionable material they are performing sound better through their talents alone, with Holly Freeman, Isabella Marshall, Melinda Orengo and Eric Stroud all getting moments to impress. The undoubted star of the production is Max Alexander Taylor in his standout performance as Biscuits. Showcasing his remarkable vocals and fantastic musicality, he lit up the stage, miraculously elevating the material through his own strengths.

As I watched Precipice, I kept thinking how much many elements were lacking. The strength of the music, the strength of the lyrics, the creation and realisation of the story and execution of its themes. All lacking. That sums up the show in total - one of the more bizarre misfires I have ever witnessed, and one that needs some serious work if it does want to have a future beyond this limited run. The only saving grace are the talented cast who deserve better material to demonstrate their talents. Sadly, Precipice wasn’t the refreshingly new musical I hoped it was going to be. Like the residents in Greenwich Tower face 400 years in the future, the power is going out and they need to act fast if they want to secure their survival. As it stands, Precipice risks facing an early extinction.

Precipice plays at New Diorama Theatre until 13th December. Tickets from https://newdiorama.com/whats-on/precipice

Photos by Alex Brenner