Before After Review, filmed at the Southwark Playhouse

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/swkplay/

Typical me: nothing for 3 weeks and then 3 productions coming at the same time (No.3 will be revealed sometime during the weekend)! 

After the adorable Romantics Anonymous the other day, tonight I was watching a brand new piece from the Southwark Playhouse. I don't see as much new work as I should, something I aim to change going into whatever the hell the new normal is. I mean look at the recent budding British writing: The Grinning Man, Eugenius, SIX...!

Anyway, you get the picture, on to how I spent my Friday night...

Before/After is a new musical by Stuart Matthew Price and Timothy Knapman, exploring what happens when you get a 2nd chance at a relationship? 

Ami meets Ben by a tree on a beautiful hillside. She recognises him instantly: they were once very much in love. But Ben doesn’t remember her at all. What went so terribly wrong in the past, and is there a chance that, in the present, these two lovers might just find their happy ever after, after all?

This piece reminded me, not surprisingly, of The Last Five Years, as it switches between timelines: or, perhaps no better way of saying it, than Before and After. Though it doesn't go from solo to solo until tour main couple sing one duet in the middle; it's more intertwined between the pair. It works a lot better for me as you truly get to see what each of them are thinking, flowing more seamlessly that you would think to the different timelines. 

Credit: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/whats-on/

Husband-and-Wife-Team Rosalie Craig and Hadley Fraser head this new project, both of whom were last seen as part of City of Angels, showing just before the theatres shut down. Both of whom were captivating, their natural chemistry blooming.
It made me really invested in Ben and Ami's relationship. I wanted to find out what happened to them. I wanted them to make this 2nd chance work for them - how often does that happen?!

With that, I need to commend the book writing; it made me both laugh out loud and very nearly cry. 

If you're able to watch it on Saturday (26th September), then I would definitely get a ticket and give this show a chance. It's wonderfully written and got me rather emotional. I really hope that this gains a following and has some kind of post-Ms Rona future because it damn well deserves it! 

Get tickets here: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/show/before-after/