This Little Life of Mine
The Park Theatre
Reviewed on Friday 7th October 2016 by Olivia Mitchell
Reviewed on Friday 7th October 2016 by Olivia Mitchell
★★★★
A few weeks ago I published a post full of excitement for the new British musical This Little Life of Mine; well I just saw the show and my excitement was well aimed. This is a new, exciting, relevant and realistic musical which is so perfect for growing up and living in London.
We follow Izzy and Jonesy, two thirty-somethings who have solid jobs, a (tiny) flat in zone two and each other but are missing what they think will complete their perfect story: a baby. The pressures of life begin to take their toll and we see get an insight behind the usual front of social media to see how a real, ordinary couple deal with life.
Although this is an emotional story, there are laughs galore with Just One More summing up my university life pretty well! Kate Batter and James Robinson as Izzy and Jonesy are fantastic, portraying a truly lifelike couple and performing each scene in a heartfelt and truthful way. Kate's voice really stood out to me, being extremely clear and effortless; she sounded beautiful especially on the the heartfelt songs such as My Life Story. Making up the rest of the tiny cast are the incredibly talented and versatile Caroline Deverill and Greg Barnett. They transition between their four characters flawlessly with clever prop, costume and accent changes, adding some of the most hilarious and memorable moments of the musical!
The music has so much to offer, going from hilarious numbers to more heartbreaking pieces and pulling at the heartstrings throughout. Although the musical was a little predictable and not as big and showstoppery as other shows I've seen, I really did enjoy it. It's very reminiscent of The Last Five Years so if you like that, I'm sure you'll like this! I found myself really rooting for Izzy and Jonesy. I felt as though I was watching a rom-com being acted out in front of me, I became invested in the characters and was willing for them to be happy. The ending has left me wanting to know more about these characters and how their lives progress so I'm crossing all fingers and toes for a transfer to a bigger venue where the show can be refined to become perfection and a hit in 2017!
If you want something realistic and not full of false hope and manufactured idealism this is definitely the musical for you. The music is catchy, the storyline is fab, the casting is sublime and overall it's just a winning production and one of my top viewings of 2016!
If you want to see This Little Life of Mine, head down to The Park theatre before it closes on October 29th. You can purchase tickets here: https://www.parktheatre.co.uk/whats-on/this-little-life-of-mine?utm_source=Adwords&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=LittleLifeAdwords
Photographs by Charlie Round-Turner
