Theatre Review: The Big Life, Stratford East - a jubilant celebration of a generation who breathed so much life, love, and culture into Britain.
The cast of The Big Life. Image Credit: Mark Senior.
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It’s a homecoming for The Big Life as it returns to Theatre Royal Stratford East 20 years after it was first on stage. And home is a central theme in this musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost by Paul Sirett and Tameka Empson, which focuses on a group of Caribbean immigrants who come to England during the Windrush era. Leaving home, making a home somewhere new, finding a home in people when the place you’re in doesn’t welcome you the way you were lead to believe it would - the show is a jubilant celebration of a generation who breathed so much life, love, and culture into Britain.
The story follows 4 men (Ferdy, Dennis, Lennie and Bernie), and 4 women (Zulieka, Mary, Kathy and Sybil) who have answered the call from the UK government to come and help rebuild the “motherland” country after World War 2. After an infectious number where they all imagine what their lives are going to be In Inglan, the boys make a pact that to make the best for themselves as they embark on their new lives they’ll swear off cigarettes, alcohol, and women for 3 years. But with the events being watched on by Gods of Love Eros (Danny Bailey) and Aphrodite (Tameka Empson), things don’t go quite to plan.
This show is definitely a rom-com, and it hits all the notes you’d want a great rom-com to hit. The comedic timing is second to none - Danny Bailey as Admiral and Eros had the audience in stitches with both his spoken comedic timing, but also physical comedy. There’s a wonderful double-act dynamic between Dennis and Lennie (Khalid Daley and Karl Queensborough), a very natural chemistry between the two makes that a stand-out dynamic in the show. In a move reminiscent of old Hollywood, the costume design by Jasmine Swan has each couple in matching colours, so you know from the get-go who is going to end up with who, which only adds to the humour before the inevitable romantic conclusion.
But it’s also more than that. From the opening moments where they dream of their life in England and the jobs they’re going to have, the welcome they’re going to receive, we in the audience know what really happens. We know that highly skilled individuals were forced into jobs that didn’t match their skill set because employers didn’t want them, we know that academics didn’t get the chance to study and research and teach, we know that well-respected members of their communities who left behind security and relative comfort couldn’t find safe housing. We know the signs read “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish” and they don’t hide away from this. The show is an education, a reminder of what this generation went through when they came here with love in their hearts to help people, and were met with so much hate.
Much of these reminders come from Tameka Empson as Mrs Aphrodite. She set’s the tone for the night right from the start, a Jamaican auntie who is sat in one of the Royal Boxes to watch the show and between scenes riffs with the audience on all sorts. She is outrageously funny throughout, but there are moments - particularly in Act 2 - where humour makes way for poignancy as she reflects on The Windrush Scandal and the ongoing mistreatment of this community by the government.
It pitches itself as “The Ska Musical” and whilst Ska is certainly a huge presence in the sounds of the show, they are underselling it. The music of this show is a celebration of so many genres that were made great by Black musicians - Ska, Calypso, Reggae, Jazz, Blues, and Gospel all feature in the show, and there is not one weak link in the vocal performances of this cast. And with so many musical styles, there really is something for everyone. Better Than You will appeal to the big musical theatre fans with it’s tone similar to Anything You Can Do from Annie Get Your Gun, there’s big hearty numbers that will get stuck in your head like In Inglan, and there’s beautiful soulful ballads to move you like The Price We Pay. There is not one weak link in this cast in any capacity in fact. It feels like community, and it is packed full of heart and soul.
At 3 hours long, there are moments where the action slows and the energy begins to dip, and it is maybe a little long. But when it is filled to the brim with the amount of laughs, hard-hitting truths, breathtaking performances and real unapologetic joy as this is? I’d rather have little extra on my plate, than be wishing for more.
The Big Life runs at Theatre Royal Stratford East until March 30th. Tickets available here. Watch our interview with Khalid Daley, who is starring as Dennis in the show.