If there’s a message it’s buried too deep
It’s not often you get a new show with a credit list like this: inspired by two Buñuel films (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel), with a book by David Ives and the final music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim… Here We Are arrives carrying the weight of all that talent but for all the promise, the show never quite finds its feet, writes Katie Kelly.
The first act follows a group of ultra-rich New Yorkers trying, and repeatedly failing, to get brunch in a series of increasingly surreal restaurants. The satire is obvious, though at times enjoyably silly. There are laughs—especially thanks to a brilliantly versatile performance by Denis O’Hare as a carousel of exasperated waiters. Chumisa Dornford-May also stands out with pitch-perfect vocals as Fritz, a walking stereotype of a trustafarian kid.
The music in this half is recognisably Sondheim but lacking a single memorable song and any emotional resonance. The decision to abandon music entirely in the second half is jarring. The shift leaves the whole thing feeling lopsided.
Act Two takes a surreal turn. Having finally managed a meal at an embassy, the group decide to stay the night—and then discover, inexplicably, that they can’t leave. As cabin fever sets in, food and water run low, a revolutionary butler turns on them and various oddities ensue: It snows indoors. A bear appears, then vanishes.
If there’s a message in all this, it’s buried too deep for me to unearth.
The one constant pleasure is the staging. The production opens in a gleaming white box that morphs and unfolds in increasingly dazzling ways. When the embassy interior was revealed, one sensed an almost audible gasp across the stalls—I was right there with them.
Here We Are is strange, stylish, and at times darkly funny—but it’s also confused. It doesn’t seem sure what it wants to say or how it wants to say it. There are glimpses of brilliance, but as a whole, it strikes a flat note.
National Theatre, South Bank, SE1 until 28th June.
Booking and full details: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/
