BWW Reviews: TEDDY, Southwark Playhouse, June 8 2015

Teddy is the newest production at the Southwark Playhouse's The Large venue, from promising duo composer Dougal Irvine and playwright Tristan Bernays. Set in 1956 on a weekend evening in Elephant and Castle, Teddy and Josie are hoping for a night to remember and with superstar Johnny Valentine in town, the night certainly promises to be an interesting one.

Joseph Prowen and Jennifer Kirby carry the entire show as the only two actors, switching between the roles of narrator and playing themselves. The show has an unmistakable energy which engages the audience members from start to finish, creating a total mashup between a play and a musical with some fantastic choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves. The set, designed by Max Dorey, sees Teddy and Josie scrambling up and down ladders, allowing them to move from a derelict church, to a cinema and finally a crowded nightclub. Kirby's Josie is a feisty 17-year-old, and although she puts up a tough front, there are moments of undeniable tenderness and vulnerability while Prowen as Teddy is a cheeky youth with big dreams of following in the footsteps of his idol Johnny Valentine. Both characters have troubled home-lives and hardly any money, but that doesn't stop them on their mission to embrace life and live for the moment.

The four-piece band Johnny Valentine and the Broken Hearts provide original songs, not only throughout the action on stage, but also at a mini pre-show which takes place before the production begins. This is a bold, energetic piece that will have the audience on their edge of their seats throughout.

Photo Credit: Darren Bell