Review: Clive, Arcola Theatre

Clive reprises an exciting collaboration between the two-time Olivier award nominee Paul Keating, the illustrious director Lucy Bailey and the Arcola Theatre. They’ve previously worked together on the hugely successful Kenny Morgan, with Keating’s intense and vulnerable performance stealing the show. This heart-wrenchingly human and emotionally charged play has been written especially for Keating by Olivier and BAFTA-winning playwright Michael Wynne.

Like the best of fringe theatre, Studio 2’s intimate scale already feels electric and intense before this one hour, one man, one cactus play has even begun. Mike Britton’s set is pristine, white, gleaming and somewhat reminiscent of a hospital. Spartan, aside from an enormous cartoon-like cactus. 

Welcome to the story of Thomas, an affable, contented IT manager who is working from home and relishing the freedom with playfulness within a strict, well ingrained routine. His amenable and compliant appliances and his technology bring him structure, control and purpose. His days are anchored by ritual: silent observations of his neighbour’s lives beyond the front room window and meticulous, near-obsessive cleaning that holds chaos at bay. All this is interspersed with increasingly stressful online work encounters. As pressure closes in and hidden truths spill out, his carefully buttoned-up image — like his reserved online meeting attire, hiding boxers below — can no longer contain the mounting tension and creeping chaos underneath. Thomas confides in us throughout, as he does in his cactus called Clive, who is always there for him. But when strain increases, this loyal succulent is not immune to the fallout. 

Keating has a unique and powerful skill of portraying minute nuances of vulnerability, and this, coupled with the charming, playful and spirited way in which he channels Thomas, makes the second half of this play so often shocking and surprisingly moving. His versatility is definitely the highlight of the production as he really does leave everything on stage. Wynne’s writing has plenty of gentle humour, and his skill for tapping into the human condition is moving and sensitive. The story is not hugely ground-breaking, especially with the backdrop of so many homebound productions which have come out of Covid. It doesn’t have the added subtext of a raging disease or global death on a major scale but it provides a quiet, seeping legacy of a powerful, irreversible change; businesses have enjoyed the fiscal benefits of the work from home workforce but in Clive we see the rewards of connection and bonding within a workplace – or lack of them – prove invaluable. 

In this new world in which homes aren’t just for living in, Clive gives a heart-jolting reminder that loneliness doesn’t just happen to the old.

Written by: Michael Wynne
Directed by: Lucy Bailey
Designer: Mike Britton
Lighting Design by: Chris Davey
Sound Design by: Nick Powell

Clive plays at the Arcola Theatre until Saturday August 23.