Not to be confused with Kinky Boots (despite the similar logos), Sunny Afternoon kicks its tour off in the land of its birth, although the launch is an unsteady one.Rating
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Premiering at Hampstead Theatre in 2014, this show transferred to the West End for two years before embarking on a tour. The pandemic scuppered another adventure around 2020, and now the current production orbits London multiple times as it criss-crosses the country very much like the band themselves, ending in May 2026.
The Kinks: a thinking man’s Beatles? Rebels and crafters of the ’60s counterculture, and part-creators of the whole concept of the modern rock star. Ray Davies (frontman) combines his/their hits and formation into a tale of fame, brotherhood, politics, and musical struggle, with a book by Joe Penhall. It feels similar to every other deifying musical biopic, with the edges somehow polished smooth by all the frantic musical-theatre jazz hands.
For fans of the band (the swinging-sixties set) and a few younger plus ones and plus twos (grandchildren?), it must be a rare pleasure to hear them live (or as close as you can get) one more time. The concert sections of the show are by far the most successful. Danny Horn, as Ray Davies, has the wounded-puppy, jerky movements down and broods through the expected ‘frontman-tasting-the-bitter-twang-of-his-dreams-attained’, at least as best as he can. Oliver Hoare is his brother Dave (“The Rave”) Davies, a gender-bending sex symbol exploding with squandered genius and Cockney troublemaking. However, Edward Hall’s direction makes the rather blunt decision (not the only one) to show his hedonism by having him forever suckling from a bottle of spirits. Harry Curley as Peter Quaife and Zakarie Stokes as Mick Avory play well but fade into the background, as drummers and bassists have a tendency to do. One a cappella rendition of “Days” does pierce the old armour, however, from the band and their hopelessly toffy managers (the comically gifted Tam Williams and Joseph Richardson).
Miriam Buether’s set traps the action in a recording studio with countless speakers. All the descending giant golden discs and American flags can’t free the actors from this cuboid prison. Cheap wigs and equally Halloween-style costumes don’t help with the lack of reality throughout, and Adam Cooper’s peppy, very theatrical choreography rather gets in the way of the band’s thrashing performances. We travel across the US and the UK-but do we really?
Penhall’s script could be any number of band biopics, weaving clumsy working-class roots up to the expected stratospheric infighting, drug-taking, and semi-demonic grasping managers. Ray Davies’ involvement in the show rather makes one believe this is how the mid-’60s really were, but the already tired touring production struggles to get this across to us in the audience. Despite some really spirited rockstar-ing from Horn and Hoare, this feels like a cartoon depiction of a band at the forefront of the politics, music, and culture of the time. Too much “Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy” and not enough “I’m Not Like Everybody Else.”
Music & Lyrics: Ray Davies
Book: Joe Penhall
Original Story: Ray Davies
Direction: Edward Hall
Set Design: Miriam Buether
Choreography: Adam Cooper
Sunny Afternoon plays at The New Wimbledon Theatre until Saturday 29 November
and then continues on tour into 2026.
