Review: Showmanism,  Hampstead Theatre

It’s rare a performer can truly be described as ‘unique’ but the non-pareil of lip-sync Dickie Beau is undoubtedly that. His extraordinary performance of Showmanism at Hampstead Theatre astonishes, with an exceptional delivery and playful panache that will leave you tingling.

‘Beguiling’ doesn’t begin to describe this show. It’s a deliciously histrionic production discussing theatre and its history, but with a core of conversational humanity and connectivity. It celebrates illusion and the different forms knowledge can take, while offering much, much more than facts. It lovingly reimagines identity and boundaries, as it disrupts normality and creates a space in which we’re encouraged to consider the world and ways of being differently. 

The production opens with Beau teasingly visible through gauze at the back of a boxed-off stage area that holds slightly surreally disparate objects: television screens, a space helmet, a chair, a skull, all positioned at different levels (designer Justin Nardella). The lights don’t dim immediately, so from the very start, the audience is unconstrained by boundaries, becoming individuals united in a shared experience with the performer, the disembodied narrators he channels and each other. Beau himself plays most of the production exposed and humanly fragile, wearing merely his pants.

Directed with supreme precision by Jan-willem van den Bosch, he lip-syncs with polished perfection to a curated sequence of anecdotes from voices that include the great Sir Ian McKellen (present in the audience tonight!), the fabulous Fiona Shaw, and groundbreaking director Peter Sellars. Beau is truly hypnotic as he becomes an almost supernatural, quirkily compelling conduit, streaming human connection and knowledge. It perhaps takes a few minutes for our suspension of disbelief to kick in, but quickly the experience becomes entirely enthralling. There’s a poetic timelessness to the storytelling that gives an almost sci-fi quality of temporal flux, accentuated by the distancing effect of his lip sync, the sense of history and the otherworldly environment. It generates an uncertainty that acknowledges newfound room for safe exploration of unbounded thinking. 

And what a superbly curated selection of anecdotes underlies it all. Captivating tales cordially entertain whilst also outlining the qualities of theatre and its relevance, both historical and contemporary. We jump in time from Ancient Greek amphitheatres to a Swiss village’s extraordinary commitment to its Passion Play, to the legendary sword of Edmund Kean and into the grave from Hamlet, discovering truths in fiction and found masked by costumes as we do so.

Beau’s flamboyant style is absolutely joyful, adding dynamic flair to the recorded words and bringing the records of theatrical history from archival entry to vibrant life. But it also adds unassuming, endearing comedy and eccentric physicality that thrillingly speak to the possibility of complementary realities, where even the mundane everyday can become beauteous and spellbinding, as Beau elegantly washes his feet, or incongruously boils an egg live on stage.

There’s not a part of this show that isn’t flawless, and both lighting by Marty Langthorne and sound by Dan Steele are seamless and evocative, creating diverse texture and palpable energies. A particular highlight is when they combine to create a vast screen of soulful faces singing in ethereal choral harmony, which is just exhilarating.

This is not just a play, it’s a transformative work of art. Exquisite, complex and world-changing, the remarkable, dramatic ghosts of Showmanism will surely haunt you long after you leave the theatre. 

Created by & Starring Dickie Beau
Directed by Jan-willem van den Bosch
Designed by Justin Nardella
Lighting Designed by Marty Langthorne
Sound Designed by Dan Steele

Showmanism plays at Hampstead Theatre until Saturday, July 12