Arcola Theatre – until 20 April 2024
Reviewed by Celia Armand Smith
2**
Born into an immigrant family on the fringes of the film industry, young Nicholas Cohen dreams of playing Superboy in the new Superman film being made by a family friend. This sparks the dream of becoming a filmmaker. What follows is a life of TV and low budget horror films. But this life is seemingly not satisfactory to Nick, he wants to win an Oscar and he has an idea for a short film that could be his ticket to the bright lights of Hollywood. So off he goes to mix and mingle with the great and the good (not named but sort of named) with mixed and often absurd results. Promises are made and broken, however a short film is eventually made. Is Oscar-worthy though?
Life with Oscar is an ambitious attempt by Nicholas Cohen to portray approximately 30 different characters from his life in one 70 minute production. Cohen, as writer and performer, displays keen observational skills and his ability to sustain high levels of energy is impressive, however it all somehow falls a bit flat.
As the play progresses, the narrative loses a bit of momentum despite Cohen’s frenetic stage presence. It is all a bit overwhelming. There is a lot going on in this performance, and I’m not sure it’s completely convincing. All of characters are easily identifiable, but some of them don’t feel fully realised and seem a bit redundant anyway.
Cressida Brown’s production of Life with Oscar is filled with ambition and boat loads of potential, but ultimately it falls short. Nicholas Cohen certainly has a magnetism, but it isn’t enough to sustain this multi-character show. There are entertaining moments, and the storytelling is great albeit frenzied. The play ends with Cohen returning from LA, and making the short film he set out to make. Is it Oscar-worthy? Unfortunately I don’t think I care enough to find out.