The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

Absolute Hell at the National Theatre

Absolute Hell at the National Theatre | Theatre review
26 April 2018
Connor Campbell
Avatar
Connor Campbell
26 April 2018

It’s sort of disheartening to see a play so thoroughly live up to the punnability of its title. But there’s no way around it: Absolute Hell is absolute tedium.

In the crumbling majesty of member’s club La Vie en Rose, Soho’s social outcasts revel in the glow of victory in Europe, keen to keep at bay the horror camps of Germany and the still-fresh scars of conflict. Yet, as the reality of the outside world begins to pierce the walls of the establishment, the party starts to turn sour for those left cold by the swell of post-war optimism.

Though there’s a lot of good work in the ensemble – especially from Jonathan Slinger, who is so hammy as the sneering Maurice that he basically comes with egg and chips – the drama doesn’t generate enough material to justify such a large cast of characters (and – by extension – bloated running time). This wouldn’t necessarily be an issue if Joe Hill-Gibbins had managed to create a genuinely raucous tone when the club is drinking away the wee hours. The director does have a nice way of pouring his performers about the stage like whisky swilled in a glass, but those party scenes never quite ignite in the way they need to for the loneliness of the final half hour to truly take hold.

What’s a shame is that in amidst all the baggage there’s a really fantastic performance from Charles Edwards. As the struggling author Hugh Marriner, the actor manages to balance a boyish dishevelment with a sense of tired desperation. He is constantly darting around the stage, flop sweating everywhere as he tries to scrounge help from his devilish compatriots. Edwards is also gifted the richest story thread: the dissolution of his relationship with long-term partner Nigel, a man made uncomfortable by the club’s queerness and high camp – well, in theory; in practice the production’s Soho is pretty short on both.

Effectively a creaky, intermittently bleak 1940s version of Cheers, Rodney Ackland’s drama is one of those plays that suffers from the story of its inception. What was once controversial and subversive when it was first put on as The Pink Room in 1952 – when one easily offended hack even labelled it “a libel on the British people” – is now incredibly tired, with Hill-Gibbins’s production doing little to make Absolute Hell feel like anything more than a period-piece curiosity.

★★★★★

Connor Campbell
Photo: Johan Persson

Absolute Hell is at the National Theatre from 18th April until 23rd May 2018. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

Rita at Charing Cross Theatre

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More

Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry

★★★★★
Ella Satin
Read More

Royal Ballet School students return to the stage for post-Covid performances

The editorial unit
Read More

“Theatre is totally unique… there’s simply nothing else quite like it”: An interview with Sir Howard Panter as the new cast of Jersey Boys opens at Trafalgar Theatre

Natallia Pearmain
Read More

Jersey Boys bring on a new cast at Trafalgar Theatre

Natallia Pearmain
Read More

All of Us at the National Theatre

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Midsummer Mechanicals at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

★★★★★
Alexandra Fletcher
Read More

Camden Fringe 2022: The Importance of Being Anxious at Museum of Comedy

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Camden Fringe 2022: Rome 3000 (Julius Caesar) at Canal Cafe Theatre

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Connor Campbell

Absolute Hell

★★★★★

Dates

18th April - 23rd May 2018

Price

£15-£67

Links & directions

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Eiffel
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Royal Ballet School students return to the stage for post-Covid performances
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • “Film offers a way of looking at the past, the present and the future simultaneously. That’s its wonder”: Sarah Beddington on Fadia’s Tree
    Cinema & Tv
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • South Facing Festival: Richard Ashcroft and his band were on impressive form from start to finish
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

The Wound (Inxeba) | Movie review
The Prudes at the Royal Court | Theatre review