Revival of the 1950s character driven drama serves up a round of stellar performances from the ensemble
Don’t Destroy Me is a play from London-born 20th century award-winning playwright, Michael Hastings, first produced in 1956. Despite experiencing a range of success across his career over theatre, television and radio writing, many would argue Hastings never saw the fame that peers from his era achieved. This modern adaptation is directed by Tricia Thorns.
Our setting is a flat building in London, a few years after the conclusion of the Second World War. Sammy, played by professional stage debutant Eddie Boyce, is a 15 year old Jewish boy moving to London to live with his alcoholic father, Leo (Paul Rider) and his unfaithful but kind step-mother Shani (Nathalie Barclay). Sammy arrives in London having been living in the country with his aunt, full of hope and excitement about the life he’s about to begin in industrial London. As Sammy’s expectations are ripped away from him and he learns that his family and his neighbours are full of deceit and despair, he becomes embittered and maddened by the world before him.
The strength of this play is in its characters. Here, Hastings created a range of complex and captivating personalities that are all so fantastically brought to life by the performers, and director, Thorns. The plot of the play is rather simplistic, and this isn’t a bad thing. The entertainment is granted from the interactions and escalating tensions of our cast and characters, as Sammy reaches breaking point. Boyce does an excellent job of starting the play with a joyful boyish charm, and removing that, layer by layer, as he becomes disillusioned with the state of his family.
Paul Ridder’s Leo, a Hungarian Jew who fled the Nazis is a dark and resentful man, who sees no pleasure in his life in London, and often turns to drink to escape. Rider portrays Leo particularly menacingly when drunk, cool in demeanour with a vicious tongue to mask his insecurities. Leo brought Shani to London to marry after the death of his wife, Sammy’s biological mother.
A matter of personal preference perhaps, but I gained the most enjoyment from watching the portrayals of the neighbours. O’Hara’s George plays the paramour, and neighbour of Shani, with a young Brando-esque swagger that makes you feel certain that the quips of poison and a refusal to respect his peers are alluding to something dark beneath the surface. Upstairs neighbours, Mrs Pond and her daughter Suki provide us with a strange form of comic relief from their often maniacal behaviour. Nell Williams’ Suki craves attention and exudes a wonderful and strange domineering eccentricity – Williams is entirely captivating every moment she’s on stage. Alix Dunmore portrays a far more tragic form of fascination – a woman driven mad by the loss of her husband to the point where she appears to be completely detached from reality. It’s hard to look away as we see the pain through Mrs Pond’s facade.
It would be unfair to say that a single member of the cast stole the show, they all excelled in bringing the flaws and follies to life, and that’s as much of a testament to the director Thorne as it is the cast.