Reviews

Bluebird

This revival
of Simon
Stephens
‘ 1998 play is beautifully acted and imaginatively
staged. It serves as a
reminder of our capacity to confess our darkest and most private
thoughts to
perfect strangers and examines the safety we find in anonymity.

Jimmy is a
minicab driver
and we follow him as he picks up a string of people over the
course of one
evening. As he chats casually with his fares he hints at
somewhere he has to go
after work. Someone he has to meet. But, despite coaxing secrets
out of his
passengers he remains steadfastly outside the situation –
offering advice, but
trying never to add insight from his own life. All the actors
deliver subtly
dark performances but Garry Jenkins’ wonderfully restrained
performance as Jimmy
is particularly memorable.

At times I
found the
lighting and transition sequences to be oddly aggressive and the
sound design
heavy handed. Whilst I understand the audience needs one fare to
be swept away
as the next is accepted, these moments seemed to be slightly at
odds with the
delicate renderings of the many people Jimmy meets as he travels
round London.

– Chris Hill