I have spent a whole day wondering how I’m going to describe how I feel about what I saw on stage at The Drayton Arms, honestly and with no spoilers. It’s a tricky combination when you feel completely and totally bowled over and feel the urge to go on about certain scenes in great depth.
This is how Dick has left me feeling. Written and directed by Adam Kinneen, this play is an intense, beautiful and brutal roller coaster. Apparently the theatre was full, but to me I was the only one sitting watching and during the interval I went for a quick walk to distance myself from everyone else. I didn’t want to be pulled out of how I felt while I was sitting in that seat.
Five friends in their mid-twenties meet up, often around a birthday, and have the sort of conversations that arise when you’ve known a group of people for a number of years. These five seem quite a mixed bunch and yet they are travelling along life’s path together, supporting and antagonising each other in various measures. Towards the start I did think Noah (Joseph Lynch) was going to be someone I could not warm to. The monologues he comes out with and the way he tries to assert dominance on his birthday was jarring. This, of course, was entirely intentional. The fact I wanted to give him a big hug towards the end of the show demonstrates the character arc that Noah went through and the talent in the performance by Joseph Lynch.
Andi Bickers played Bailey so effectively, Bailey being the supportive friend everyone needs in their lives and yet along with the encouraging warm side there is strength of character, and absolute conviction in how to play a power dynamic. In a scene that was long, intense and a little uncomfortable to watch it was shown that Bailey had a deeper, darker side. Andi Bickers is the one actor in this show that I have seen in a play before, and yet again they were fantastic.
Cleo (Nina Fidderman) feels like a bit of an outsider at the start of the play, with distance even between her and her brother. As Ruby’s sister, she gradually becomes more of an integral part of the group as the play goes on and Cleo’s light shines during a scene towards the end of the show in conversation with Noah.
Then we have Ruby (Frederick Russell) who is charming, gentle and sensible… and River (Max Brennan) who is quieter, more reserved and slightly detached from some of the conversations. The friendship between these two is quite difficult at times, the audience having about as much of a clue of whether it will develop into anything more as the characters themselves, but in the second half there is a scene between them which is going to stay in my head for a long time. Absolute silence, limited movement and facial expressions creating one of the most powerful and intense scenes I have ever seen in a theatre.
In other scenes there were two conversations being shown combined together. At one point I thought to myself I wish I could watch each of the three faces 100% of the time they were all just exquisite performances. I could go on and describe every scene and the strengths in each. The show was a masterpiece from start to finish.
I decided I would like to see this show based on the marketing images and the fact that I had seen one of the actors in another play. I didn’t really have much of an idea what to expect, but it turns out it was one of my favourite pieces of fringe theatre to date. The intensity of multiple scenes, the character development, the on-stage costume changes that somehow become part of the show, the sound and lighting choices, and the strength of every performance on that stage made it an absolute winner.
If you are reading this and you haven’t yet booked a ticket, don’t miss your chance. Some performances have already sold out. Dick is at The Drayton Arms until 26th April. Where will it go after that? Goodness knows, but I can say for certain that I believe this will not be the last we see of this play.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was gifted a ticket for this show in exchange for an honest review.
