By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN? Saturday 26 July 2025 RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)

Like all of the greatest actors, Jack Lowden (Measure For Measure, Donmar) is absolutely unrecognisable as Scottish incel Luka here compared with the role of flawed hero River Cartwright he is perhaps best known for in Apple TV’s fine Slow Horses.

• Read on for reasons including how we laughed a lot at The Fifth Step and the dexterity of the wordplay is quite beautiful

Luka is an alcoholic and as part of his Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) recovery chooses Martin Freeman’s (Pinter At The Pinter, Harold Pinter Theatre) James, 25 years sober, to be his sponsor.

Author David Ireland has form for darkly comic and provocative work – Ulster American and Cyprus Avenue for example – and The Fifth Step is no different with Luca explaining his fondness for masturbation and online porn as his mentor encourages channelling his energies into different endeavours.

Ireland is also renowned for conjuring absurd comic imagery and as Luca throws his all into working out he convinces himself he has seen actor Willem Dafoe playing Christ and exercising on a treadmill at his gym.

The Fifth Step is a 2-hander and Freeman and Lowden are so in synch, almost like a father and son, that disagreements about whether it’s ‘William’ or ‘Willem Dafoe’ become even more funny than they might’ve been in the hands of a lesser pairing.

The Fifth Step was created by the National Theatre of Scotland and premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2024.

Lowden originated his role although Freeman is a new addition to the cast.

The action largely takes place during a series of coffee shop meetings and the intimacy of this venue and the fact it’s in-the-round means the audience feels right at the heart of the increasingly heated conversations between these 2 very different men.

Ireland is unafraid to take a look at religion and how interwoven in the ideas of AA it is although there is never a sense of taking any particular side.

The tension heightens as Freeman’s Buddha-like James exhibits a darker side as his authority is questioned.

We laughed a lot at The Fifth Step and the dexterity of the wordplay is quite beautiful while we’ve never seen Lowden better and Freeman provides the accomplished support he is renowned for.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Nimax Theatres Tickets
• Have you seen a Jack Lowden show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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