One of the things that puzzles me about this industry, love it though I do is the tension between the want and desire for new work, and how difficult it is for creative teams to cement those opportunities to get their work in front of audiences. Now, I’m the first to admit that I struggle to help  support new work with the gusto and enthusiasm I would like to for a whole host of reasons: living outside of London (or indeed at minimum two and half hours away) from places like Manchester, Leeds & Chichester, whether a venue is accessible for me as a disabled patron and indeed then if the limited wheelchair access seating is available. I know myself as well that I’m a sucker for a revival of a musical or a classic play, and often decide, because of the travel expense on top of the ticket price to go for something I already know and love, or something that features familiar faces whose work I enjoy. To my mind, there is space for both kinds of work in the industry, and it’s richer for that balance.

I’ve challenged myself to make a more concerted effort to, when I’m able, to go and see at support new work, and even though it ends this weekend, I wanted to write about seeing the new musical from Christopher J Orton and Jon Robyns: Then, Now & Next a while back at Southwark Playhouse Borough.

Then Now & Next started life in 2013, when Orton and Robyns were working on another West End show together, and they began throwing ideas around for a new project in their downtime: story threads, song snippets and so forth. Fast forward to 2020, with the nation in lockdown and theatres dark, the pair decided the time was right to dust down those plans and see if it had any legs. I know that Southwark Playhouse has form for championing new work (indeed, one of its recent exports Operation Mincemeat is currently taking the West End by storm and it’ll forever hurt my heart and soul that I didn’t manage to see the musical adaption of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button when it returned recently) so it seemed like a natural choice to stage Then, Now and Next there!

Spanning 20 years, Then Now & Next follows Alex Shaw and charts the course of the two defining relationships in her life: in her twenties with adventurous idealist Stephen, and charming, dependable Peter. Coming to terms with a loss that affected her deeply, Alex is attempting to move forward with her life, and wondering if she will be more than “fine.”

The first element that struck me about this show was the way it stands by the assertion that its audiences are smart and don’t need to be “fed” everything: it tells the story in a non linear way, jumping between timelines and giving us a snapshot of defining moments in Alex’s relationships with these two men. It’s a technique that gives proceedings pace and energy, but I encountered the same sense of frustration that I have with another musical that employs a similar storytelling device: there are scenes and threads that I was more invested in compared to others, especially between Alex and Peter that are only vaguely mentioned or touched upon that I wish were explored in more depth, but perhaps this teasing, tantalising nature of the piece is to reinforce its core: life is made up of moments, both big and small and for better or worse, we are shaped by them.

The writing, like the show itself, moves between quieter, subtle poignancy and larger than life, laugh out loud moments. There is high energy, scene stealing work from Tori Allen – Martin, especially as party animal Tara, but I sometimes felt that these tried too hard to compensate for what is, essentially a show exploring how grief shapes us. The latter is encapsulated beautifully in a conversation that Alex has with an unnamed man (Justin Brett, who like Tori plays an array of supporting characters) visiting his partner’s grave and they swap stories about their loved ones. It really moved me, having gone through the loss of a parent and recognising shades of myself in Alex’s journey, and I longed for the concept to have full focus and commitment. I did, however, love the symbolism of Bob Sterrett’s all white set, coupled with the recurring assertion from Alex that she longs for more colour in her life, and how this is handled, and for the most part think the direction from Julie Atherton handles the timeline smoothly and allows each character to shine.

For the issues I had with the tone and writing, there’s no denying the heart of this piece and why its so relatable: there’s warmth, humour, sadness, hope; all elements that make up everyone’s lives at some point, and I found myself swept along in the journey. Musically, though I was drawn to certain songs (“Distracted”, “She’s Mine” and “Coming to Terms” especially) over others, there’s a real charm and simplicity to the lyrics I found endearing, as I did the shades of other composers I felt had influence.

This endearment extends wholeheartedly to our cast of five. I am overjoyed to have finally seen Alice Fearn perform in the flesh in such an intimate piece: there’s perhaps a danger of Alex being flat and one dimensional as she spends the majority of the piece navigating loss, but I found her to be warm, engaging and authentic in Alice’s hands, and it was utterly glorious to at last witness that incredible vocal range and quality of acting through song at such close quarters!

Joaquin Pedro Valdes’s Stephen fizzes with charisma and boundless energy, and it was so easy to see why Alex fell for him: there’s a humour and spontaneity in their relationship that contrasts with  Alex’s later relationship, and a number about hitting your thirties that struck many a chord with myself and my amused audience.

I know that by its very nature acting is the practise of becoming other people, but given the show that brought Peter Hannah into my world, I was completely bowled over by his performance as Peter and it was far and away my favourite in the show. Waitress was the show in question that introduced me to Peter, in which he played Earl. Now, if you know that piece, you’ll know that Earl is a unredeemable, nasty piece of work, and so I took such utter delight in watching him play a character at the other end: warm, sweet and quietly compelling as he struggles with the hold Stephen still has over Alex: how he cannot compete and feels Alex cannot (or is it that she doesn’t want to?) move forward.

One touch I really enjoyed musically is the fact that Stephen and Peter, as the contrasting characters have very different styles and feels to their solo songs.

Rounding out the cast are Justin Brett and Tori Allen – Martin as Man & Woman, who appear in a multitude of guises throughout, making a big impact in sometimes the smallest ways.

It’s not often I’ve been able to see a new musical at the start of its journey, and with warmth and charm by the bucketload, I hope this won’t be the last we see of Then, Now and Next.

Then, Now and Next runs until 29th July.

Photos by Pamela Raith