Clarkston

Despite the underpinning themes of American colonialism and the westward landgrab vs modern America, this is a suprisingly intimate play, although as it is written by Samuel D Hunter who wrote The Whale I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.   Jake, a well to do liberal arts graduate has been following the westward trail towards the Pacific taken by his ancestor, but he washes up 300 miles short in the small town of Clarkston and gets a night job in Costco where he meets Chris.  Chris is trying to get into a writing course, but has an addict mum to worry about.  So that’s the set up, which doesn’t sound particularly promising but this ends up being a surprisingly tender play about people trying to find connection and make the best of their lives, despite the challenges they face.  It’s a bit clunky with the amount of exposition, but the central performances are excellent and I found myself drawn into the lives and concerns of the young men.  

Joe Locke plays Jake with a nice mix of sass and lostness (not sure that’s a word but I am sticking with it) as he comes to terms with living with a terminal illness.  And Sophie Melville does a brilliant job in the relatively slight role as Chris’s mum, a mixture of vulnerability, charm and manipulation.  But the revelation was Ruaridh Mollica as Chris, who manages to gradually uncover layers, one at a time and delicately, to reveal a sensitive and thoughtful soul under a brash and closeted exterior - an absolutely stand out performance and he is added to my watchlist of actors to keep track of.  

Setting this in a Costco to represent modern America is a smart, if fairly obvious move; aspiration is limited to shifting products, and it reminded me of Nomadland, with workers drifting to find whatever work they can, unlike those historic adventurers travelling westward with a higher aim in mind, whether that’s a better life or just to see the ocean.  By comparison our two young men are on a road to nowhere.  We also have the contrast between the vastness of America and Costco and the smallness of the lives of Chris and Jake.  There are some bleak themes here, and we don’t necessarily get a happy ending, more ‘let’s have a happy now’ but I sort of believed that Chris and Jake were going to make the most of what they had. 

The Trafalgar theatre isn’t huge but it’s still pretty big for a chamber piece like this, and I wasn’t really clear on why they decided to put some of the audience on the stage as if to try to create a traverse.  Instead, it just meant that the main theatre wasn’t completely full.  I’d love to see this somewhere a bit more intimate where the audience could surround in a more natural way..  I had a good view though in my cheap seat in the dress circle and  the audience around me was lovely.  A mix of Heartstopper fans, tourists and regular theatre goers.  We could all have done without the person who tried to pretend their phone wasn’t ringing during a really crucial scene on the stage though.  

Overall, this is a play about connection in a big empty world, with great performances.  They are not filling this theatre and they should so I recommend getting one of the discounted tickets in the few weeks left of the run.