By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: **** RUNTIME: 80 minutes (no interval)

WHEN?: Saturday 1 July (matinee), runs through 22 July 2023

There are 2 moments during this monologue when Will Young as grieving hedge manager Willem interacts remarkably and seamlessly with his enrapt audience

• Read on for reasons including whether Will Young kept his clothes on and if we think this could transfer to the West End

During the 1st he blesses a male sneeze commenting it was perfectly timed and during the 2nd he seems a little more troubled by someone seemingly taking longer than expected to ‘unwrap an eclair’.

The 1st time we saw this New York and Amsterdam-set Simon Stephens’ monologue about an unlikeable finance worker reflecting on the unexpected death of his brother at the Young Vic 8 years ago actor Eelco Smits performed much of the show naked.

There’s nowhere to hide onstage during a monologue and Young gives us an assured and absorbing performance as a character with few redeeming features who, through grief, begins to find some humanity.

We last saw pop star Young in concert in Hackney, east London, in September 2021 and wrote: ‘We’ve seen Young twice in the West End in Cabaret, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award and Strictly Ballroom.’

He was asked when he might return and he said he’d like to but with ‘something really good’ which indicated to us that we shouldn’t hold our breath just yet.

Young’s twin brother Rupert died in July 2020 aged just 41 and the subject matter here doubtless has a resonance for the actor. Our father died in the gap between us seeing and returning to this play and it’s amazing how one’s own life experiences shape and enrich our impressions of what we see.

For us there’s a greater richness of related experience to draw on which makes our own reaction to the same work much more intense and vivid now than it was back in 2015.

Young’s a great storyteller and holds this audience in the palm of his hand. Performer and author are particularly strong when recounting the disapproval in Willem’s father’s voice as the hedge manager returns home to Amsterdam for the funeral and to meet up with a former lover.

Unlike Smits’, Young keeps his clothes on throughout the performance and it’s with his engaging and seemingly effortless acting style that his soul baring is purely metaphorical.

Judging from the admiring predominantly female and middle-aged audience at this show, we can definitely see this vehicle for the pop star transferring to the West End shortly after this brief north London run.

There’s something quite haunting and beautiful about the titular Song From Far Away by American Music Club’s Mark Eitzel which Willem hears throughout the show that he struggles to piece together as he discovers the love for his brother he may have wondered whether he had the capacity for through his grief.

• Main picture by via Facebook courtesy Hampstead Theatre Tickets
• Have you seen a show at the Hampstead Theatre or starring Will Young? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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