The Highwayman

Photo by Andi Sapey

Guest review by Aaron Weight from www.aaronsays.co.uk

After I saw all the buzz about its first performances in Norwich, I was very excited to get an opportunity to see The Highwayman - a brand new musical by Kitty Morgan.

My first impressions on walking in were of great intrigue as the set looks surprisingly modern for a story set in 1600s England. However, this trendy modern twist on history style carries throughout, with hoodies and trainers and a few modernisms peppered into the prose here and there. This is further echoed with the choice of entrance music - a selection either directly from the Bridgerton soundtrack or heavily inspired by it.

It all makes for a very jolly atmosphere, definitely at odds with the grisly tale that is to follow.

Getting us underway immediately is a fabulous chorus number, the aptly titled The Highwayman Theme. Featuring bold choreography and beautiful harmonies, it was sadly diminished by unclear diction and the microphone levels being wildly imbalanced with the music, meaning the actual words were lost. I suspect I got about 40% of what they were saying and this strange ‘up and down’ continued throughout the show, unfortunately.

Despite this, the story starts to bed in slowly and we gradually get a feel for who everyone is and what they’re up to - sort of. The action does meander quite a lot, meaning that I found it quite hard to follow, especially in a scene which jumps very quickly between two pubs - one in Suffolk, one in London - and the only means of differentiation being two small signs at either side of the stage being lit. It didn’t help that it also looked like some of the lighting cues were mistakenly fired and they switched mid-scene a few times.

Photo by Andi Sapey

But for the slow pace, the setup is actually rather effective when it gets going and it was enjoyable to watch its wending journey.

There was clearly a lot of passion behind the writing and the performances, and the dark tone does bite hard in a few places with some very chilling moments. One in particular made several members of the audience gasp loudly in the silence that immediately followed it. I certainly found myself quite swept away with emotions on occasion - unexpectedly at times, but justly earned.

(I do think a touch more care could have been taken with the content guidance for this show. It’s nice to have a go at a themed paragraph to summarise it, but some of the subjects covered in the show were significantly more graphic and brutal than that paragraph implies. Do prepare accordingly if you are of any kind of sensitive disposition.)

All the actors have a hand in the staging movements, meaning that scenes flow well, and we’re not left with any awkward transitions. I would say, however, that the overall staging wasn’t really remarkable. Aside from the modernistic spiralling motif, there’s nothing new to shout about in this regard. The one flourish which I was hoping to really enjoy was the use of lanterns to create the world of the story, but the lanterns themselves seemed to have a mind of their own and, indeed, there was a scene where a character was holding one up, noticed it wasn’t lit and had to quickly hide it behind her back.

The lighting was clumsier though, with timings noticeably off in a few places, switching significantly before or after a scene change for example. The design of the lights was mostly very nice, and didn’t detract from the action - aside from one jarring disco conga scene - but whether it was the difficulty of the new space, or the inattentiveness of their operation, there were a lot of times where it felt that some of the performers weren’t quite in their lights and it was particularly disappointing when one of them stepped forward for an emotional part of their song, but in doing so moved entirely into darkness.

As we reach the conclusion of the first half, the tension does mount up a little, if rather suddenly, with a standoff between three of the main characters in the middle of an ill-fated robbery. The conclusion of this takes us to the interval, but I felt that the menace was very quickly drained by the lack of any impact in the crucial moment. It was clearly a creative choice to have the guns be completely silent, but rather than adding to the drama it sucks it out - in my view anyway - and the same happens towards the end of the second act as well. A real shame as both of those scenes have some fantastic build up but the crescendo is just… nothing. The emptiness does not a satisfactory coda make.

Act Two gives us more of the same with a few brilliantly heart-wrenching opening scenes, but the rest of it is a muddle of lyrics, meandering subplots and more tech fails.

Still, for all the faults there was also a lot to enjoy.

Photo by Andi Sapey

The cast are all fantastic, with each getting plenty of opportunities to shine in their roles. Aside from a few strange and muddling accent attempts, every single one of them brought their own unique energy to the ensemble. The digital (grrr) programme presents them in alphabetical order, so I shall follow suit.

James Dangerfield is fantastic in his role as King Charles II, and deftly blends into the scenery around the other scenes when he’s not the focus. His violin work is a nice addition to the songs too.

Lyle Fulton is appropriately seedy and horrible as Davy Pixley, and lumbers about the stage with gleeful disdain. He is on guitar for the songs, though a few times it seemed like we couldn’t hear what he was playing.

Guido Garcia Lueches has arguably the most ‘fun’ role of this story, as the floaty and whimsical Thomas French, but he still manages to squeeze out the emotions from his entanglement in the romantic web, making for a very heart wrenching exit for his character.

Emily Law as Nell Gwynn and Fanny London commands the stage, she goes full gusto and is a great joy to watch and listen to - despite the repetitive nature of one of her songs, she is excellently placed to be singing it.

Melissa O’Donnell as the habitually mistreated Rose is another standout performer. She pours her heart and soul into this character and the result pays off as we feel her character’s pain quite viscerally.

Josselyn Ryder as Bess is another powerhouse. Her entanglement in the romance as it plays out is the most gutting, and her character’s pains are also quite palpable. She was responsible for all of my tears, such was her devotion to the performance of her role.

Natasha Spencer-Levy is superb as the young and headstrong Peggy, and she has the strongest voice of the lot, with some high powered harmonies clearly cutting through anything else. She also gets her teeth right into the Hamilton-esque rap verses she is given in act two brilliantly.

Faith Turner as Jem brings a grounded sensibility to a character who might easily have been mishandled. Her clumsy misinterpretations bring moments of humour and levity to allow us to laugh at the confusion, not at the character herself.

Finally, we have Kevin Wathen as the titular Highwayman, Claude Duval. He plays the charming rogue with great depth and courage - bouncing around his various partners and all the emotional highs and lows with ease. He is a strong anchor to the story, but meshes in with everyone else just as easily.

Overall, the show is very enjoyable. Despite the darkness of the story, the charisma and energy of the songs and their performers is enough to push us out of the depressing nature of events as they unfold, and presents us instead with a gloriously rich, if a little morbid, evening of theatre.

With some finessing of the finer details, and perhaps some further refinement of the plot, this could very well be a show that has much more to give down the line.

The Highwayman is at New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich until 14 September 2024, then will be at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds on 2-5 October.

FOR FULL SHOW DETAILS AND BOOKING LINK, CLICK HERE