@sohoplace
The original Death Of England play by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams opened at the National Theatre in early 2020. It was followed later in the year by Death Of England: Delroy (the original being renamed Death Of England: Michael). A third play Death Of England: Closing Time came to the National in September 2023. Now all three plays are getting a run at Sohoplace. The first two, slightly updated, have opened, with Closing Time opening on 22 August. Each can be enjoyed separately or in any order. Michael and Delroy are best friends, one white, one black. Their monologues describe their experiences of class, race and masculinity. Thomas Coombes plays Michael, Paapa Essiedu is Delroy. The director is Clint Dyer. Some critics reviewed them separately, some together.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Death of England
Anya Ryan for Time Out (4★) noted, ‘At its best, the script feels like poetry. Words are sung out in repetition, phrases are echoed as memories in future scenes.’ He felt that Delroy was ‘the stronger and fuller of the two plays…It is a vigorous, loud and exhilarating act from Essiedu’.
Suzy Feay for the Financial Times (3★) referred to ‘the performers’ charisma, stagecraft and mastery of the space’ but preferred Michael to Delroy. She said of Essiedy in the latter: ‘his speeches seem slangy, improvised, sometimes hard to catch; overall, the piece has much less structure.’ Whereas Michael, ‘with its less sympathetic protagonist, is for that reason the more interesting piece and the tougher task for the actor.’
Dominic Maxwell in The Times (3★) said, ‘The writing crackles with contemporary life, while Dyer’s staging artfully uses every inch of the playing area.‘ Thomas Coombes gives, he said, ‘an extraordinary display of energy, presence and outsized wit’. Paapa Essiedu the speed of his wit and the variety of the voices he uses in this garrulous role — Delroy, like Michael, is a funny guy — are phenomenal’.
Like some other critics, Fiona Mountford at the i (3★) had reservations about the writing. She said, ‘while the staging and performances are near faultless, the writing is more of a challenge, and not always in a positive way. For starters, the 100-minute running time of each piece is far too long, greatly outstaying its potency’.
BroadwayWorld‘s Alexander Cohen (3★) decided Thomas Coombes’ ‘unmodulated firing-on-all-cylinders-attack-from-all-sides method results in a scorched earth rather than a clinical strike and clean kill’. Sam Marlowe of The Stage (3★) described ‘raw, unstinting performances from Thomas Coombes and Paapa Essiedu’. She talked of ‘Essiedu’s charisma sets the tinderbox account ablaze; it’s a phenomenal turn, vivid, witty, agonising and exhilarating.’
Death of England: Michael
Theo Bosanquet for WhatsOnStage (4★) said, ‘Watching Michael unravel in the close confines of @sohoplace is a visceral experience; it’s like being strapped to a rocket powered by fury.’ Arifa Akbar in The Guardian (3★) praised ‘an energetic central performance’ but said, ‘the tortured undertow of filial inadequacy, split loyalties between his father and his friend, Delroy, and jittery mournfulness, are not felt sharply.’ BroadwayWorld‘s Alexander Cohen (3★) thought ‘Roy Williams’s brilliance as a writer lies in the way he delicately coils intimacy into Michael’s soul’ but he decided Thomas Coombes’ ‘unmodulated firing-on-all-cylinders-attack-from-all-sides method results in a scorched earth rather than a clinical strike and clean kill’.
Death of England: Delroy
BroadwayWorld‘s Alexander Cohen (5★) wrote, ‘Essiedu really is a force of nature. Totally at ease, working the audience like a stand-up comic, then, with fox-like agility, backstabbing them with guttural force and working up to a symphonic crescendo.’
The Guardian (4★) said Paapa Essiedu’s ‘must-see’ performance ‘elevates this play into its own, one-man coup de theatre. Essiedu has astonishing poise, bringing tragic depth and integrity to Delroy but lilting joy and comedy, too. His enraged injustice, when it comes, is immense and you feel it burn. The sentimentality, when that comes, is transformed into a tenderness which brings tears to your eyes.’ Theo Bosanquet for WhatsOnStage (4★) declared, ‘Essiedu gives nothing short of a tour de force performance. He demands our focus and our judgment, literally turning us into his jury.’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.6★
Death of England can be seen at @sohoplace until 21 September 2024. Click here to buy tickets directly from the theatre
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