Land of the Free West End Reviews

Outside of Lincoln’s more reflective and confrontational scenes, Land of the Free becomes somewhat frustrating. If the intention is to draw parallels between history and the present, it often feels too heavy-handed, with moments that border on a le...

Outside of Lincoln’s more reflective and confrontational scenes, Land of the Free becomes somewhat frustrating. If the intention is to draw parallels between history and the present, it often feels too heavy-handed, with moments that border on a lecture as the ensemble directly explains events to the audience. If the goal is to explore the psyche of those who fuel political unrest, it falls short, as the characters remain underdeveloped and one-dimensional. It feels like the show is trying to do too much at once. While there are some exceptionally clever devices throughout – Julius Caesar comparisons, the use of placards to contextualise – by the second act, they start to feel overused and lose their impact.

The seven-strong company share multiple roles except for the magnetic Brandon Bassir, who devotes his energies fittingly to the bloody-minded Booth, a man who views the fatal bullet as “a strike against the elite”. Bassir introduces another layer...

The seven-strong company share multiple roles except for the magnetic Brandon Bassir, who devotes his energies fittingly to the bloody-minded Booth, a man who views the fatal bullet as “a strike against the elite”. Bassir introduces another layer of meta-textual commentary channelling Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle (who influenced Reagan’s would-be killer) whenever Booth slips into smarmy wooing mode. Meanwhile, Clara Onyemere would make a riveting Lincoln even without the irony of a Black female actor playing the role in a year which could give the US its first Black female president.

John Wilkes Booth, the roguish actor who shot dead US President Abraham Lincoln at a theatre in 1865, is the subject of Simple8’s latest play. Thorough research from writers Sebastian Armesto and Dudley Hinton colours in the life of the Confederate...

John Wilkes Booth, the roguish actor who shot dead US President Abraham Lincoln at a theatre in 1865, is the subject of Simple8’s latest play. Thorough research from writers Sebastian Armesto and Dudley Hinton colours in the life of the Confederate sympathiser, whose persona is often reduced to the firing of his gun. But this two-hour production, directed by Armesto, is sometimes guilty of oversaturating the story, embellishing Booth’s life with more details than are necessary. And though there is a playfulness and resourcefulness to the company’s storytelling, its chronology makes it hard to follow.