STEPHEN FLETCHER’S fledgling production company Life in Theatre may be just two shows in but its name on the programme is fast becoming a sign of quality.
For its second venture, the Liverpool-born performer returns to the Actors Studio where its first, A Life in the Theatre with Andrew Schofield, was well received just a few months ago.
This time he stars alongside the effervescent Helen Carter in another two-hander, Jason Robert Brown’s one act musical The Last 5 Years, which charts a relationship from beginning to end in both directions simultaneously.
If that sounds complicated, fear not, it’s only confusing on paper. On stage, we witness the relationship backwards through the eyes of struggling actress Cathy Hiatt – it opens with her clutching a tear-stained farewell note – and forwards from the perception of her husband Jamie Willerstein, a novelist.
The couple interacts just once – during a touching wedding scene – before they’re swept away towards their optimistic first meeting or heartwrenching separation.
Already having proved himself a versatile actor on the Liverpool stage, from Royal Court Christmas comedies to Tennessee Williams at the Playhouse, Fletcher is a perfect fit for the role of Jamie, making a smooth transition from excitable romantic to jaded divorcé-in-waiting.
Carter (Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi, No Wise Men) is always eminently watchable but she brings something extra special to Cathy, keeping her just on the right side of the line between passionate and oppressively clingy.
It’s a genuinely moving tale in which it’s impossible to take sides but it’s the comic moments that stay with you – particularly Carter’s sarcastic showstopper A Summer in Ohio and Fletcher’s The Schmuel Song, which he gives a delivery reminiscent of Danny Kaye.
Laura Davis
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