Review: Radiant Boy, Southwark Playhouse

In the production notes for Radiant Boy, the cast and creatives all reference the difficulty of finding a way to describe the play. To strip it down to basics: Russell (Stuart Thompson) has returned to his mother’s house. Something – we’re not sure what – is getting worse. His mother has called an exorcist. Oh, and it’s also a (snow) stormy night, of course.

Set design from Tomas Palmer has an astonishing level of detail and thought put into it for such a small space. The room feels lived in, and the lighting (Lucia Sánchez Roldan) is subtle but further compels the narrative.

Direction from Júlia Levai is detailed yet well-rehearsed enough to seem entirely natural. Russell and mother Maude’s (Wendy Nottingham) relationship feels lived-in, love hidden behind layers of resentment, fear and anger, while passing movements – a bag being picked up and put down – are timed to perfection. The choice to include practical effects throughout is a bold one, which could easily look amateurish or excessive – especially in such a small space. Yet it works completely here, never negatively influencing the tone or weight of the piece.

Equally, moments that could fall into cringe-worthy territory avoid doing so through strong performance and direction. It may not be quite right to call exorcism scenes depassé, but they’ve certainly been done to death. People jerking around and making strange sounds is not necessarily entertaining, and can be hard to take seriously. However, the scenes here are tense, emotionally engaging and feel believable. Pulling this off so well is a testament to the skill of all involved.

Music is central to the entire piece; from Russell’s time at a musical conservatory in London to the choral music of his youth, from haunting folk melodies to the exuberance of The Cure and David Bowie. It represents a clash between old and new, expresses the interiority and turmoil of the characters, and is beautifully performed by Thompson and Renée Lamb. Again, using unaccompanied vocals in such a small space is a risk, but one that more than pays off.

The wider world doesn’t come into the family home all that much. Russell’s flight to London and how the city differs from the rural north, allusions to homophobia from the general populous and local community all make an appearance, but there’s no direct reference to the wider state of play. Perhaps most glaringly absent is mention of the AIDS crisis, a spectre that truly haunted the time and tends to be achingly present in queer media from, or set in, the 1980s. Maybe the fact that that particular ghost never needs to be mentioned makes it all the more ominous.

Throughout the whole production, playwright Nancy Netherwood refuses to fully explain the metaphor. There’s a pleasant ambiguity to it; we know that Russell is haunted, and that he is gay. The exact connection between these two things is not necessarily clear. Netherwood is careful not to make the link too direct, instead playing with the idea of possession to create something that inspires reflection on identity and, without sounding cheesy, the idea of the ‘true self’.

At times it would be nice to have a little more depth, particularly with the character of Father Miller (Ben Allen), whose crucial context feels somewhat rushed over at times, and a dash more on what the haunting signifies wouldn’t go awry – it’s easy to imagine some audience frustration from the almost-meanings we are teased with. But these are minor quibbles.

Radiant Boy is just that. Radiant.

Written by: Nancy Netherwood
Directed by: Júlia Levai
Set and costume design by: Tomas Palmer
Lighting design by: Luci Sánchez Roldan
Sound design by: Patch Middleton, Elinor Peregrin
Fight and intimacy coordinator: Haruka Kuroda
Produced by: Cloudburst

Radiant Boy plays at Southwark Playhouse until Saturday 14 June.