The Prince Of Egypt
Dominion Theatre, London Until October 31, 2hrs 45mins
Half a century ago Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz had a hit with Godspell. Then, in 1991, he begat an Old Testament stinker called Children Of Eden.
Now there’s this dead worthy stage version of the Moses story. It’s based on the much-loved animated 1998 film, for which Schwartz wrote the songs, including the hit When You Believe.
The composer has added ten extra songs, and Scott Schwartz, his son, directs.
In this re-creation of Ancient Egypt, spare a thought for the multi-tasking Hebrew slaves. The poor sods lug huge blocks of polystyrene stone under the lash
In this re-creation of Ancient Egypt, spare a thought for the multi-tasking Hebrew slaves. The poor sods lug huge blocks of polystyrene stone under the lash. They have to roll about impersonating the Nile, become pillars in a temple and form a scrum as the non-burning bush.
The choreography is by Sean Cheesman, who did the more enjoyable 2006 musical Daddy Cool, based on the hits of Boney M.
Forget Charlton Heston’s booming, hairy-chest performance. This Moses (Luke Brady) is terribly sensitive, and Ramses (Liam Tamne) is a dull villain upstaged by Adam Pearce’s wicked high priest, Hotep.
This Moses (Luke Brady) is terribly sensitive but prominent in the cast is Christine Allado (both above), who is excellent as Moses’s fiery young wife
In a diverse cast, every race is chosen but the voice of God has been cut. Or maybe Liam Neeson was unavailable. Either way, it all feels more PC than BC.
Prominent in the cast is the ever-cheery Gary Wilmot as Jethro, Joe Dixon as Pharaoh Seti, and Christine Allado, who is excellent as Moses’s fiery young wife.
The real disappointment (apart from the samey songs) is the set-piece plagues: the boils are out of a joke shop, there are no locusts, and the killing of the firstborns is pathetically unscary.
Full credit to Jon Driscoll’s vast, exotic stage projections. But as musical theatre, this gives banality a bad name. A shame, as the film works so well.
Death Of England
Dorfman stage, National Theatre, London Until Saturday, 1hr 40mins
Rating: 
Can Rafe Spall – son of actor Timothy Spall – keep this up? The actor has to spout for 100 minutes solid, entirely alone on stage.
He plays Michael, a mouthy, sweaty Essex lad whom we meet on the day of his dad’s funeral.
The father – a latterday Alf Garnett – ran an East End flower stall and popped his clogs while watching England lose the 2018 World Cup semi-final.
Rafe Spall (above) has to spout for 100 minutes solid, entirely alone on stage. He plays Michael, a mouthy, sweaty Essex lad whom we meet on the day of his dad’s funeral
What makes this white British monologue – fuelled by cocaine, booze and Michael’s grief – unusual is that its writers, Roy Williams and Clint Dyer, are both black Britons.
Racism and Brexit are predictably linked, but with his sensitive side exposed, this conflicted working-class voter rises above a mere specimen stereotype.
Is this compelling? Yes, but exhausting with it. I wondered at times if it would be England or your reviewer who died first. Spall is phenomenal, though I’m unsure what this roaring confessional amounts to.
The Incident Room New Diorama Theatre, London
Until March 14 (Greenwich Theatre, London, March 17-21)
2hrs 20mins
Rating:
The case of the Yorkshire Ripper has always haunted the British public’s imagination – something Olivia Hirst and David Byrne’s absorbing, thoughtful procedural drama is well aware of.
The Incident Room is set entirely in the Leeds headquarters of the beleaguered police operation to hunt down the killer, but told through the memories of sergeant Megan Winterburn.
As well as giving a fascinating inside view on the challenges of conducting a manhunt in the pre-digital age – working through 44,000 car-tyre records, trying to follow a single £5 note from mint condition to pay packet – the play is also quietly insistent in revealing blinkered, institutional sexism, both in how female victims were viewed and female officers were treated.
Patrick Connellan’s design is suitably claustrophobic – filing cabinets tower over the room (Natasha Magigi and Charlotte Melia, above)
Although it’s not always the most dynamic setting, and there’s a lot of unflashy slog as well as nail-bitingly tense moments, at its best there is a pressure-cooker tension to Byrne and Beth Flintoff’s direction.
Patrick Connellan’s design is suitably claustrophobic – filing cabinets tower over the room and clever projections by Zakk Hein make them appear to slip and judder ominously.
It’s apt: in real life the incident room literally sagged under the weight of all the paperwork.
Holly Williams