Reviews

Goodbye Barcelona

| Off-West End |

5 December 2011

Fresh from facing Blackshirts on Cable Street, 18-year-old East End Jew Sammy (an able Tom Gill) takes his fight to the overstretched and undersupplied lines of the International Brigade and the Spanish Civil War in Judith Johnson (book) and KS Lewkowicz‘s (music and lyrics) Goodbye Barcelona.

The young and impressionable boy, taught by his widowed mother to stand up for himself and those around him, answers the call of Republican leader Dolores Ibárruri, ‘La Pasionaria’, alongside an unlikely collection of Londoners, fighting for the men, women and children slaughtered by Franco’s fascist army. Sammy’s mother, compassionately played by Lucy Bradshaw, follows him into the cause, taking to the Spanish countryside as a nurse in search of her son.

La Pasionaria, leading her country through radio broadcasts, is given a compelling voice by Laura Tebbutt as the Queen of the Revolution. Although patter song “Factions” perhaps does a better job of showing off the writers’ skills than expanding the audience’s understanding of the Spanish political climate, some of the show’s hymns and anthems are more rousing.

There are unfortunate moments where the piece cries out to be sung-through, the occasionally cringe-worthy book being the show’s main flaw. The two unfolding love affairs are far better expressed in song, the Spanish accents also less of an issue when the singing starts.

The new Arcola, although a slightly strange thrust space, gives the production room to breath and the cast space to work – a welcome change to the often ill-fitting auditoria where many new musicals find themselves premiered. Performances such as Mark Meadows‘ worldly, grounded and pessimism Jack almost redeem, but this show lacks the turmoil and emotional depth needed to form a compelling portrayal of war.