A turbulent journey into the human heart
Who are we? And can we really know another person when we barely know ourselves? These questions are at the heart of Flyby, a new musical by composer Theo Jamieson, created with Adam Lenson, currently having its world premiere, writes Eugenia Sestini.
If you are familiar with the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, you know that wherever you go, there you are. And human pain cannot be escaped; it has to be experienced and processed so that we can safely reach the other side. Flyby is proof that humans have put a man on the moon but cannot yet safely journey through love and relationships.
Flyby opens with a bang – darkness and thunder silence the audience, and the 90-minute rollercoaster ride begins. A sofa sits at the centre of the stage, and here we will meet the show’s couple, Daniel (Stuart Thompson) and Emily (Poppy Gilbert). The duo moves around this couch while they voice their fears, hopes, and vulnerabilities, leaving the audience with a feeling that they have walked into a couple’s therapy session. Daniel is an engineer obsessed with maths; Emily is a filmmaker following in her father’s footsteps. How have they gravitated towards each other? It’s unclear. But from the start, we know that Daniel (whose nickname is, aptly, the Ostrich) has decided to steal a spacecraft and get as far away from planet Earth as possible in his quest for emotional healing.
Emily’s high-energy personality is not exactly joie de vivre – she seems to get a dopamine rush out of other people’s suffering (“Somebody got hurt, and I did like it!” she confesses to Daniel), while her boyfriend obsesses over whether he can one day suddenly become irrationally violent. The story follows their ups and downs, and they will navigate their toxic relationship with the emotional maturity of two adults with multiple unresolved childhood wounds and an unhealthy desire to conform to other people’s expectations. Emily wants to please her dysfunctional father; Daniel wants to feel normal and loved. Do they search for human connection or void-filling?
As narrators and secondary characters, we meet Rupert Young (a charming, narcissistic father to Emily), Gina Beck (Emily’s subdued mother), and Hamilton alumna Simbi Akande (Grace Adams).
The music takes us through the couple’s mood swings, at times mimicking Emily’s feverish speeches (Gilbert is electrifying), at times taking us into the depths of despair which Thompson so poignantly embraces. While the score doesn’t make excessive vocal demands on the actors, they both go to lengths to use every molecule in their bodies to embody these two very complicated humans. Toward the second half of the show, the music will become darker – we are no longer buzzing with energy but pulsing with mild panic.
Director and co-creator Adam Lenson has a vision of deceiving minimalism. The simple setting is then contrasted with the dizzying use of projections, which at times help soften the blow of exposition but will also transport us to space and make us feel as if we’re travelling too.
Flyby is not for the faint of heart: it forces us to reckon with our own choices and accountability, and reminds us that if we run from our past instead of making peace with it, we miss the opportunity of a more contented present.
Southwark Playhouse Borough, 77-85 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BD until 16th May.
Booking and full details: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/flyby/
