Yasmin Paige and Simon Manyonda exude “chemistry” in the “highly watchable” and the zeitgeisty European premiere of Anna Zeigler’s Actually, which is now running at the West End’s Trafalgar Studios until 31 August 2019. We’ve rounded up review highlights below – time to get booking!
One night. Two people. Three truths.
Amber and Tom hook up at a party at their elite American university and spend the night together. They agree on the drinking, they agree on the attraction, but what actually happened between them?
Through conflicting accounts of a college hook up, Actually boldly delves into the messiest of grey areas and the intersectional complexities of race, religion and gender, controversially picking at our individual biases and internalised prejudices in ‘he said, she said’ cases of sexual consent.
Actually was first seen in Los Angeles in 2017 and later that year received its Off-Broadway premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Yasmin Paige and Simon Manyonda star in this European premiere production of Actually, directed by Oscar Toeman and presented by Announcement Productions.
This is American dramatist Anna Ziegler‘s first play in London since the 2015 European premiere of Photograph 51, directed by Michael Grandage and starring Nicole Kidman.
Actually runs from 6 to 31 August 2019 at Trafalgar Studios 2, 14 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY, with performances Mondays to Saturdays at 7.45pm, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 3pm. Tickets are priced £20-£30. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!
Review highlights
Marika Visser: “A reminder that, even in the era of #MeToo and #TimesUp, there remain plenty of grey areas when it comes down to defining assault and determining consent… [The actors’] focus never drops.”
Harriet Corke: “Actually tackles its theme with skilful insight and a refreshing amount of nuance. Its resolution – or, rather, its lack of resolution – makes the show feel complete: not as a piece of storytelling, but as a realistic depiction of sexual assault cases.”
Lucy Miller: “The scene is set for racial and class conflict long before Amber and Tom meet in a psychology class… Paige and Manyonda are exceptional in their roles as socially-pressured college students.”
RevStan’s Theatre Blog – ★★★★
“In peeling back the layers of each, Ziegler challenges your prejudices and exposes the complexity of human psyche, our relationship with ourselves and others… It is a tense and gripping piece and will certainly give you plenty to think about.”
Tim Masters: “Manyonda and Paige have excellent chemistry and cope admirably with the script’s rapid switches between dialogue and their individual confessionals to the audience… The concept of truth, in an age where fake news has become a daily mantra, seems more slippery than ever.”
Maryam Philpott: “One little word can change everything… Ziegler has created a scenario and two complicated people who feel credibly drawn. Too often we expect shows to tell their story and wrap everything up with a nice bow at the end, but sexual consent and its consequences are never so clear cut.”
Claire Allfree: “Actually feels very zeitgeisty… it compassionately argues in favour of human imperfectability to suggest that, when it comes to a contested sex act between two people, sometimes we don’t always ask the right questions.”
Sam Marlowe: “High-profile sexual misconduct cases on college campuses, a pussy-grabbing president in the White House and the Me Too movement sharpen its topicality, but it’s hard to imagine a time when the subject matter wouldn’t feel relevant.”
Charlie Wilks: “Oscar Toeman’s direction draws out some gorgeous subtle moments from Yasmin Paige and Simon Manyonda. The duo share delicious chemistry with one another and provide a highly watchable 95 minutes.”
Michael Billington: “Simon Manyonda catches Tom’s mix of arrogance and insecurity and Yasmin Paige shows how Amber’s shyness manifests itself in compulsive chatter.”
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