When I saw on our itinerary that we were seeing London Tide at the National Theatre, I was dreading the thought of sitting through a three and a half hour play adapted from a Charles Dickens novel I had never heard of. However, once the show began and the actors all climbed up from under the apron onto the stage, I soon realized that this show was something else entirely.
London Tide by Ben Power was an incredible experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I could talk about this play for ten pages, but I have to do it disjustice and only talk about it for a few paragraphs, so I will start with the technical design, move on to the acting, and finish by talking about the meaning of the play and what it meant to me. Just as Lizzie jumped into the Thames, let’s dive into this play.
Before the show, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what lighting and set design could do for a show. Never once did I consider that the physical lights themselves could be used to build the set. London Tide utilized the rows of hanging lights to imitate the waves of the river Thames by moving the entire lighting rig rows up and down in succeeding order. My favorite moment was when two characters were struggling with each other in the river and two stage hands held a giant, opaque sheet in front of them that made them look like they were floating and sinking in the river when they were only moving closer and further away from the flowing sheet. I think ten flies could have crawled into my gaping mouth by the end of the scene because my jaw was on the floor at this point. However, with great technical design there must also come great acting and this show delivered!
Every single actor performed their role exquisitely. I was most impressed by Beth Alsbury’s performance as Jenny Wren, and Ami Tredrea as Lizzie Hexam although everyone else also did a phenomenal job. Alsbury could have easily played the role of Jenny as a naive, stereotypical child who is only played for laughs, but instead she demonstrated this well-rounded, strong girl who understands the struggle of what is happening around her and still delivers the comedy in a way that does not talk down to the audience. Tredrea, on the other hand, has a character who is complicated from the start and only becomes more complex as the plot continues. Both of these actresses took what was there in the script and elevated it to a whole new level. Now let’s level out the themes.
The play tells you what it is about in the very first words of the first song of the show: “this is a story about London, and of death, and resurrection.” While this is absolutely true, there are so many more themes present in this wonderful play such as love, grief, and legacy. I adore the moment at the end of the play when there is a happy ending with a couple, but also a happy ending for two people who don’t necessarily become a couple in the end. It is such a brilliant way to show how you don’t need to be in a relationship to be happy as long as you have people you love in your life.
Long story short, I cried and my perspective on what a play can be has been broadened exponentially. If you find yourself in London looking for something to do, do yourself a favor and let London Tide sweep you away.
Theatre in London U of A 