EIF 2024 The Fifth Step Lyceum Theatre 22nd August Review
The Fifth Step at the Lyceum Theatre is the world premiere of the latest collaboration between David Ireland and the National Theatre of Scotland, and tonight Jack Lowden (Luka) and Sean Gilder (James) were obviously having a lot of fun on-stage with their respective roles.
In the hands of a lesser writer than David Ireland, this story about Luka’s difficult journey towards sobriety and his relationship with his sponsor at Alcoholics Anonymous could have been a grim work, but here it is full of humour whilst also tackling some very difficult subjects about how we all deal with belief systems and personal intimacy.
The name of this work comes from the accepted 12 steps towards sobriety and regaining control of yourself and your life. These 12 steps do have slight variations in some groups and can be tailored to adapt to the needs of individuals, but in general step five is “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs”.
Jack Lowden is excellent here as the thirty-something Luka who is new to AA and searching for a sponsor in the programme. A tightly woven script that is full of humour is perfect for this character, but underneath that superficial layer there is real darkness, pain and sorrow in Luka’s story, and formative events in his childhood have clearly set him on the path to his many problems as an adult and the addiction that he has in vain tried to solve, or at least cover them up with.
Taking the role of James, Sean Gilder gives an equally excellent performance of a man who has been in the AA programme some time and is willing not only to sponsor Luka on his journey, but also give him the experience of his own struggle to complete his own 12 steps to sobriety. As we find with always fast moving dialogue, older and more experiences may not in the end mean any wiser a man.
Together Jack Lowden and Sean Gilder have an obvious working chemistry on stage here and together get the best out of their respective characters, and the way that both deal with the lightness and darkness of this script gives this story an interesting edge as their respective roles of exactly who is supporting who constantly merge and begin to slowly shift in this narrative.
This work is overall a fairly light touch to a very complex story and although the interweaving of both of their stories and lives is always heading to limited conclusions, even with some “red herrings” thrown into the story, this is still a multi layered work that, if you listen closely, has much to say and along the way asks many difficult, and often unanswerable questions about many of the major things that hold the very social fabric of our society together.
The Fifth Step also has the benefit of some very good music and a stage design that makes the most of the revolving stage in this production.
There was a lot of laughter from the audience tonight, but sometimes you do come across a very special script like this that makes you stop and think “Just what was I laughing at there?”
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
In the hands of a lesser writer than David Ireland, this story about Luka’s difficult journey towards sobriety and his relationship with his sponsor at Alcoholics Anonymous could have been a grim work, but here it is full of humour whilst also tackling some very difficult subjects about how we all deal with belief systems and personal intimacy.
The name of this work comes from the accepted 12 steps towards sobriety and regaining control of yourself and your life. These 12 steps do have slight variations in some groups and can be tailored to adapt to the needs of individuals, but in general step five is “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs”.
Jack Lowden is excellent here as the thirty-something Luka who is new to AA and searching for a sponsor in the programme. A tightly woven script that is full of humour is perfect for this character, but underneath that superficial layer there is real darkness, pain and sorrow in Luka’s story, and formative events in his childhood have clearly set him on the path to his many problems as an adult and the addiction that he has in vain tried to solve, or at least cover them up with.
Taking the role of James, Sean Gilder gives an equally excellent performance of a man who has been in the AA programme some time and is willing not only to sponsor Luka on his journey, but also give him the experience of his own struggle to complete his own 12 steps to sobriety. As we find with always fast moving dialogue, older and more experiences may not in the end mean any wiser a man.
Together Jack Lowden and Sean Gilder have an obvious working chemistry on stage here and together get the best out of their respective characters, and the way that both deal with the lightness and darkness of this script gives this story an interesting edge as their respective roles of exactly who is supporting who constantly merge and begin to slowly shift in this narrative.
This work is overall a fairly light touch to a very complex story and although the interweaving of both of their stories and lives is always heading to limited conclusions, even with some “red herrings” thrown into the story, this is still a multi layered work that, if you listen closely, has much to say and along the way asks many difficult, and often unanswerable questions about many of the major things that hold the very social fabric of our society together.
The Fifth Step also has the benefit of some very good music and a stage design that makes the most of the revolving stage in this production.
There was a lot of laughter from the audience tonight, but sometimes you do come across a very special script like this that makes you stop and think “Just what was I laughing at there?”
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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