Review: MARIE & ROSETTA, @sohoplace

Her name may not be widely known today, but rock ’n’ roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s legacy is felt down the decades as the foundation stone in the music of Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and countless others. As such, George Brant’s play about her relationship with gospel singer Marie Knight, now making its West End debut, is retelling not just a woman’s life, but the birth of an entire new genre.

Marie & Rosetta is, in part, a play of ideas masquerading as a jukebox musical. Backstage as the pair prepare to open their first tour together, 23-year-old Marie’s faith in the “high church stuff” (there’s a light-up crucifix above the stalls for most of the show) rubs up against seasoned musician Rosetta, her rebellious spirit and devotion to the Chicago club scene. The conflict of tradition versus musical innovation spills over into the songs, and these characters are at their most compelling when arguing over a lyric change or a swing of the hips.

Central to this concept is, of course, the chemistry between the two actors, as they develop a quietly homoerotic bond. Beverley Knight presents Sister Rosetta with a sense of breezy self-confidence, somehow knowing things about Marie she’s yet to know about herself. Newcomer Ntombizodwa Ndlovu, meanwhile, embodies Marie’s naivety and charming neuroticism, while also allowing her to grow in self-confidence as she embraces both Rosetta’s music and her attitudes.

Equally crucial is Lily Arnold’s set – the @sohoplace run marks the first time this show, which has toured in Kingston, Chichester and Wolverhampton, has been staged in the round. It’s the right staging for this show and this set, because of the sense of intimacy it creates with the actors, and also with the onstage band in the aisles (Tharpe pioneered the use of electric guitar in popular music). According to the point in the script, Arnold’s clever use of levels can morph into a dressing room, a smoky jazz club, a roof-raising gospel church where the audience is the congregation.

And when the songs do come in – which is later in the show than you might expect – they begin as snatches of acapella, before gradually building to rehearsal room experimentation, and then finally to a barnstorming, audience-claps-along opening night. Knight and Ndlovu are effortless, their clean, articulate vocals an instant emotional barometer for their characters throughout.

Being as constricted as it is to one setting, and one point in time, inevitably sometimes Marie & Rosetta runs out of steam. Much of the dialogue that veers outside the dressing room feels awkward, unfortunately including Rosetta’s account of racism and segregation in the American South, a clumsy historical reference rather than an emotional personal anecdote. Marie’s account of her failing marriage is emotively performed, but lacks some of the specificity of the women’s intellectual and musical conflicts.

Still, this is an enticing chapter of music history, and there is a firm choice here to focus on Marie and Rosetta’s creative legacy rather than on the tragedies that befell them later in life (which get only a brief mention near the end). It’s not just a chance to hear songs that have fallen out of the back catalogue, but a elegant look behind the curtain at how they were made.

Marie & Rosetta plays at @sohoplace until 11 April