London Theatre Workshop Presents Apartment 40C
Fulham's theatre pulls out all the stops with this new musical, says Penny Flood
With Apartment 40C Ray Rackham has pulled out all the stops, his latest musical production at the little theatre above the Eel Brook pub on New Kings Road is the best yet.
True, everything Ray’s done there has been good, with the first, Ordinary Days up for an "Offie" award, but this is the icing on the cake.
Set somewhere in New York, Apartment 40C has an interesting history which is told in a series of seemingly unrelated but intriguing vignettes.
The protagonists are three couples who move in and out, each with their own story and oblivious to the other two. There’s the very young Katie (Alex Crossley) and Eddie (Alex James) at the start of a relationship; the slightly older married couple, Kate (Lizzie Wofford) and Ed (Drew Weston) facing a life changing event; and the glamorous forty somethings Kathryn (Nova Skipp) and Edward (Peter Gerald), whose relationship has long ago come to an end.
The way decisions taken in the past affect the present is the central theme combining love, loss, happiness and regret. It’s a clever, witty script with plenty of humour to lighten any sadness. All the action takes place in the apartment over the course of just one evening. So much is condensed into a short space of time.
A jigsaw puzzle of a plot, with lots of pieces that, although they don’t seem to fit at first, do all come together in the end, but just when you think it’s over there’s one more tiny satisfying but disconcerting twist which finally rounds things off.
There are 15 original songs written by Ray and set to music by Tom Lees who is also the musical director. The singing and the music are terrific; they’ve all got lovely voices and are accompanied by a small by a small band comprised of a piano, violin and cello.
It’s great stuff and it’s only on until the 20th December so get your skates on, you’ll kick yourself it you miss it.
London Theatre Workshop, 65 New Kings Road, SW6
Time: Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30pm, with Saturday matinees at 2.30pm
Box Office: London Theatre Workshop
December 10, 2014
