Review by Dan Sinclair
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In 2018, Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and police officer Nick Bailey were poisoned by two Russian agents with Novichok nerve agent in the sleepy cathedral city of Salisbury. It was the biggest international scandal that we all just sort of forgot about. After all, it just kept getting worse from there on.
Joe was born in Salisbury, grew up in Salisbury and now works at a Warhammer store in Salisbury - but he used to be a rock star. He invites two of his old friends to come back to the city to bring the band back together (take a shot), raise some money for a Novichok charity (if that even exists?)) and get a brief reminder of how his 18-year-old self used to feel, a time when he was on the edge of infinite possibility.
Following a regional tour, Barney Norris’ new play The Band Back Together arrives in London for a run at the Arcola Theatre. Norris is a writer with some serious accolades behind him, winning both the Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright and an award from the Evening Standard. From this production is easy to see why.
The play opens on Joe and Ellie in a village hall where they’ll be rehearsing for their upcoming grand reunion gig. The two of them waste no time in discussing ‘the good old days’, it’s pleasant but unbearably uncomfortable for Joe who never left those days or that place, unlike Ellie who left sharpish for London. Performed by James Westphal, Joe is an enigma of a character, he is well aware of his quirks and takes great pleasure in telling Ellie all about his re-discovery of his love of train sets. Overjoyed to see his old love Ellie, James Westphal gives a real sadness behind the eyes of Joe which lingers throughout the play until it comes to a head in its third act.
Laura Evelyn’s Ellie is a woman at a crossroads in her life, London didn’t work out for her and after all she worked for, she’s moving back to her old town with her new partner but everything seems the same. And now, she’s in a village hall singing with two of her teenage loves. She gives a sensational performance and has a terrific set of vocals to match.
Completing the band is Royce Cronin as Ross, and while he was teed up to be the antagonist of the story, I found his character fascinating. In the character of Ross, Barney Norris’ writing humanises a former antivaxxer, cooly laying out how it all started from a relative of his dying of a blood clot after recieving the booster. He knows that they’re not necessarily linked, but a moving monologue calmly lays out for an audience how it almost makes sense that this grief would push him to some places that operate outside of logic and sense. Norris shows such compassion for his characters, and an audience can’t help but love them all.
At the centre of the play is a love triangle between Joe, Ellie and Ross. Sometimes on the verge of being acknowledged directly, it gives the drama a Fleetwood Mac quality. The story of a great band torn apart by a love gone sour, it is utterly compelling and gives an otherwise hilarious play some truly devastating moments. Barney Norris paces this perfectly, there is an obvious tension through the early scenes, but we assume this is just the awkwardness from three ex-best friends meeting up for the first time after 18 years. There have been marriages, divorces, university, and careers, where should they even start? But it’s gradually revealed that none of this matters and it might as well be the day after they all went their separate ways.
The collective traumas of the Salisbury Poisonings and COVID have left a permanent mark on an entire generation. In Barney Norris’ latest play, he manages to reflect this intangible feeling with such emotional clarity. The Band Back Together is a loving tribute to little England. A script full of heart and three touching performances, it is a top-quality piece of theatre that will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.
The Band Back Together is showing at the Arcola Theatre until 28th September.
Photos by Kate Hockenhull
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