Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see Clint Dyer & Roy Williams fearless one-person play about identity, race and class in Britain, Death of England: Michael at @sohoplace in London's glitzy West End.
Oh my gosh, it was amazing. Thomas Coombes is as powerful and passionate as he is explosive. He deserves every accolade going for this spit-speckled, sweat-soaked, testosterone-powered performance.
Muscular, jocular, and sweaty, Coombes plays Michael, a working-class, late-30s Essex man bubbling with self-loathing. The action - and there is a lot of it - concerns the fallout from the death of his father, a racist, Brexit-loving flower seller, who collapsed during England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Croatia a few years ago and his close friendship with his black schoolfriend Delroy.
Death of England started life as a 10-minute micro-play commissioned by the Royal Court and the Guardian in 2014. Ten years, four general elections, and one referendum later, it arrives here fully-formed and fully-updated on the @sohoplace stage as a fully-fledged 100-minute monologue.
It had a brief stint four years ago with Rafe Spall playing Michael at the Dorfman which was also excellent.
The night is funny, moving, and meta - it is also a solo (Soho?) tour-de-force. And there’s Penguin biscuits too.
Go see.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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