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

Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse

Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse | Theatre review
20 January 2021
Michael Higgs
Avatar
Michael Higgs
20 January 2021

Trying to cover every aspect of social media and its impact on the world is a daunting task, and Public Domain delivers a searching attempt at doing so. Moving at an incredible pace and touching on a range of issues, it certainly mirrors the speed at which the Internet transforms the world, but at the severe cost of spreading itself too thin, resulting in a confused show that fails to deliver on its own ambitious goal.

This shortcoming is rather frustrating since it’s actually technically accomplished: director Adam Lenson succeeds in gathering a team who create a product that is just nice to look at. From Libby Todd’s sets to Matt Powell’s video design, the show begs to be streamed online. Francesca Forristal, who wrote the script, and Jordan Paul Clarke, who wrote the music and lyrics, also take on a variety of roles and perform them with plenty of charm and voices to match.

Unfortunately, the songs are all rather similar and banal, creating a forgettable soundscape. This wouldn’t be too tragic if it weren’t for the fact that the lyrics and dialogue are also bland. Each word is taken from YouTube videos, tweets or Instagram posts – and it shows. It feels like a lot was sewn together without much thought given to a coherent whole. This is also clear in the “plot”. Aside from random songs about various aspects of social media, the viewer occasionally gets glimpses from Zuckerberg’s hearing in Congress and two stories involving “influencers” who voice their opinions via YouTube. Forristal and Clarke act their roles well enough, but there’s just very little substance.

And that’s the big problem: the show isn’t clear about what it’s trying to say. The audience hears scattered words about censorship, depression, sharing of user data, isolated people being able to keep in touch during COVID – the list goes on – but the message always stays on the fence. Sure, all of these issues are important as well as divisive, but it does them a disservice to mention them in passing in an already cut-short musical; it would have been much more effective to concentrate on one or a few of them instead. What results is an incoherent mess, if a technically very accomplished one.

★★★★★

Michael Higgs

Public Domain is available to livestream from Southwark Playhouse from 19th January until 31st January 2021. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Related Itemsinternetmusicalonline theatrepoliticsreview

More in Theatre

Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More

Evelyn at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World at Theatre Royal Stratford East

★★★★★
Natallia Pearmain
Read More

King Lear at Shakespeare’s Globe

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

This Is Not Who I Am/Rapture at the Royal Court Theatre

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

“Flamenco is a race where there is no end – you never stop learning”: An interview with Manuel Liñán on ¡Viva! at the Sadler’s Wells Flamenco Festival 2022

Jessica Wall
Read More

Jitney at the Old Vic

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

“The fact a play as relevant as Jitney is not known outside of the US is criminal”: An interview with Sule Rimi on starring in August Wilson’s Jitney at the Old Vic

Jonathan Marshall
Read More

The Car Man at the Royal Albert Hall

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Michael Higgs

Public Domain

★★★★★

Dates

19th January - 31st January 2021

Price

£10

Links & directions

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Netflix Walking Tour: From Bridgerton to The Crown, a free walking tour through the filming locations
    Cinema & Tv
  • St Vincent at the Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Terminal List
    ★★★★★
    amazon
  • Baymax!
    ★★★★★
    disney
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • St Vincent at the Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Netflix Walking Tour: From Bridgerton to The Crown, a free walking tour through the filming locations
    Cinema & Tv
  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
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

Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries
Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder | Album review