southwark theatres' education partnership

The STEP Young Critics Programme, funded by the Financial Times, gives young people from Southwark secondary schools the chance to work with a professional journalist and learn the skills needed to be a theatre critic. In November 2011, the programme worked with students from Charter School, Dulwich, and Andrew Dickson (The Guardian). As part of the programme students have had free tickets to see shows from the Unicorn Theatre, Half Moon Young People’s Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, the Young Vic and Theatre Local.

Here, we publish the work of three young critics who chose to review Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at Southwark Playhouse.

Review by Lily Hale

John Shanley's script ‘Danny and the Deep Blue Sea’, performed at the magnificent Southwark Playhouse, brings you into a deserted New York pub at the beginning of something truly brilliant. Originally written in 1983, this play doesn’t fail to capture your attention with clever staging and an insightful take on the only two characters in the play – Roberta and Danny.
Danny, an angry and frustrated man, sits in a lonely bar, covered in blood from a previous fight. Here he meets Roberta, a young mother with a troubled past who carries a deep secret with her. After they try and figure each other out, we see that there is clear chemistry between the two outcasts. Challenging each other mentally, physically and emotionally, both the characters and the audience see similarities.

You begin to see a relationship blossom when they start pouring their heart out to each other. However unlike the typical love story, the two verbally abuse each other through the scene. The brutality of this overshadows what would be a gentle scene but you still see the growing relationship between the two. You feel compassionate towards characters who seem hard – which seems impossible at the start.

Danny confides in Roberta over his wrong doings and eventually Roberta reveals her dark secret that she has kept since she was a child. Danny seems unfazed by her confession which displays the mutual understanding of each other and their disturbing pasts forming.
The two go back to Roberta’s house where they forget about their worries and dream about the future together. Here we see just how much they both need each other. Despite the messed up mind they both possess, there are moments in the play, although very few, that show their softer caring sides. For example Roberta lashes out at Danny and, uncharacteristically, he doesn’t fight back while she delivers slaps to his bare chest. We see the softer side in Roberta when they both sit down and talk ‘romantically’.

The venue, Southwark Playhouse, provides a small, intimate space where you are surrounding the actors in a box shape. The lighting and sound for the play was kept very minimalistic, as was the use of props. For example one minute the two are lying on Roberta’s bed and then, in the same spot, they stand looking out of the imaginary window. Surprisingly this was very effective and the clever idea represented Danny and Robera’s free souls at that moment having found each other. The idea allowed the audience to fully focus on the meaning behind the story although additional lighting and sound may have added depth and variation to the simplistic set. Where lighting was used, it was used to great avail in presenting the change of scene. An example of this is when Roberta and Danny go from the bar to her bedroom. There is a short blackout and then the room is lit dimly with a small purple-ish light representing the moon outside.

The director Che Walker balances the comedic elements of the script with the dark and harrowing lines that change the whole atmosphere within the Playhouse. [ah, interesting – how so? can you give us a bit more detail on how he did this?]
The acting from Clare Latham (Roberta) and Jonathan Chambers (Danny) displays sheer brilliance. The two put everything into their performance and it is clear to see that their characterization is of a very high quality. Their performances had everything needed to play their characters with pure conviction from accurate accents, to their body language and shared chemistry.

This unlikely love story sees two complex and troubled personalities seek to find happiness within each other. An insightful and uniquely heartwarming tale, a must-see.
 

Review by Bobbi-Jay Crook

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is the compelling love story between two social outcasts Danny and Roberta. Set in New York’s The Bronx, we begin in a deserted, brightly lit bar. When a strong-headed New York “Dall” strikes up conversation with a blood-stained, bruised knuckled meat head, our immediate reaction to the two is that any chance of any type relationship is clearly doomed.

Roberta – a sleazy 31-year-old – still lives at home with her mother, father and teenage “crazy” son. She feels trapped in her life and unable to escape due to a dark incident she fails to share with anyone. One failed marriage later she comes across sarcastic, bold and looking for company. On the other side of the spectrum, Danny doesn’t want anything to do with anyone. When he comes into the bar and almost beats a guy to death for asking where he was going, it’s almost impossible to see a softer side within his character.

Remarkably these characters are pulled together by their differences and together realise how lonely both actually are. An unlikely romance begins.

The actors Clare Latham as Roberta and Jonathan Chambers as Danny are truly amazing. A rocky start left me unconvinced about their abilities and confused about what accents they were trying to portray. However five minutes into the play you will truly be gripped by their natural effortless performance.

The Southwark Playhouse provides an abstract venue for this naturalistic play. Set in an old railway tunnel the venue actually provides the perfect setting for this atmospheric play. When the two actors deliver their ongoing shouting matches the tunnel amplifies each individual sound, so it’s as if the words are being screamed directly at you. One sound that stood out for me was when Roberta was continuously slapping Danny’s bare chest, each slap was so loud it made me shudder and almost feel every hit.

The audience was sat in the round; between us was a small rectangular acting space, with two metal bar stools the only props. When first confronted with the acting space you felt nervous and intimidated by the intimacy the audience had with the actors. However as the play went on, you could really feel the effectiveness of the way you were seated. It made you feel as if you were actually in the play yourself, with shoes almost hitting people in the front row.

The props being minimalist allowed you to fully focus on the actors and the amazing dialog of the play. It also emphasises the actor’s performance: when Danny and Roberta were intimate the cold floor boards left little to the audience’s imagination. Lighting also underwent small changes however was deeply effective in signaling hope. For example, when Roberta talks about how pretty the moon is, the lighting changes to a deep purple tone – to me this was a symbol of hope and beauty in the darkest situations, which ultimately I think the play expresses.

What’s remarkable about this play is that nothing much really happens. The two get talking, and spend the night together. But it’s the quality of the dialogue that really makes it utterly compelling: harsh sentences like “I think I killed a guy last night”. Ultimately the play shows us how no matter how hard life is there’s always a way out, and a way to make things better. Through these two misfits this play will leave you with a touched heart and most definitely a sense of hope.

Review by Wilson Kiiru

John Patrick Shanley’s 1983 play is a love story unlike most. When the two main characters Danny and Roberta make conversation with each other in a bar, it is clear that their relationship is going to be full of trouble; a dangerous and mysterious love story that grabs you from the start.

Roberta, who is 31 years old, lives with her mother, father and teenage son in the Bronx. The fact that she is not particularly close to her parents means that she spends most of her time out and where she doesn’t need to think about her daily struggles. Danny, 29, is more like a lone wolf in the play. When he first meets Roberta at the bar, he had just had a fight in which he thought he “killed the guy”. There are many times in the play in which you feel that Danny is someone who is quite alone.

The play was performed at the well-known Southwark Playhouse. When you are inside the theatre it almost feels as though you are in a cave or even a second world war bunker. This environment sets an atmosphere of mystery and complements the play very well. So in terms of location, it is probably the best place to do the play. It isn’t the biggest of theatres; however when there are only two actors performing it, it is the perfect size.

The actors, Clare Latham and Jonathan Chambers, do well to maintain their accents and they communicate the characters emotions consistently throughout the entire play. Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is a play well worth seeing; however it is mostly recommended for those 16+ as it does contain some adult humour.