At its heart, this is a sweet love story well told about a forbidden soviet gay romance in the 1970s.
Firebird – Kings Head Theatre
Firebird is a new play written by Richard Hough and based off of the 2021 film, also called Firebird, which in itself is based off of the 1993 novel by Sergey Fetisov entitled The Story of Roman. All 3 retell the true story of two soviet servicemen in communist Estonia in the 1970s, who fall in love and begin a clandestine and illegal affair. This is a one-act 90 minute show making its debut at the Kings Head Theatre. The fact that this story is being told for the third time in its third format should tell you the strength of feeling and support that some people have for this story. I have neither seen the film nor read the book, so I am judging this play independently of the versions that have come before.
With a small cast of 4 actors all of the performances had to be good to prevent this show from falling apart. While there are no bad performances, Theo Walker as Alexei, one half of the star-crossed lovers, and Sorcha Kennedy as Luisa, the couple’s close friend, give the stronger performances of this cast. This may be partially down to their characters having a greater dimension and more emotional range and interest than the others, but the best scenes of the show are when these 2 are on stage together. The scene in a Moscow apartment where both Alexei and Luisa are tip-toeing round each other, both knowing something that the other doesn’t, is played very well and is a highlight of the show.
The staging is simple but effective, and bar one or two slightly awkward scene transitions the direction is solid. The lighting is used to good effect, with a standout moment for this being in the radio control room where a simple lighting change brings extra intensity to the scene. The sound design is capable, and while the music was at times a bit distracting and almost out of place, in general this all helped to build the mood of the show.
At its heart, this is a sweet love story, versions of which have been told a million times, about two people in love who for one reason or another cannot be together, but they fight against this regardless. Even the queer nature of this story does not feel particularly groundbreaking. Perhaps it was more novel in 1993 when the original novel was published, but in the present day, this story felt familiar. While the story is nothing groundbreaking, with the soviet setting acting more as an atmospheric backdrop than seeming to really make this piece stand out, this show does still have you rooting for the couple at its heart.
This show however does seem to suffer from its relatively shorter length of 90 minutes. The story moves forward apace, but you don’t get to spend a huge amount of time with these characters. We spend precious little time with the couple at the centre of the story, actually being together on stage with huge swathes of their relationship happening unseen by the audience. There is also a big revelation in the second half of the show, to which we rarely get to see the characters discuss. I felt like we needed more time spent with these characters in order to help the emotional moments hit harder and to make us care more about the people involved.
All that being said, this show tells the (true) story that it wants to tell with good performances, good humour, and all in all a good show.
Firebird is playing at the Kings Head Theatre until the 9th February.