Park Theatre – until 9th September 2023
Reviewed by Bobbi Fenton
5*****
Candy is a wonderful and touching story, told by Will (Michael Waller), about his struggles after falling in love at first sight, at a bar where his friend’s band are performing, with a woman wearing a red dress with curly blonde hair, who goes by the name Candy.
The majority of the play takes place in a bar, made obvious by the few bar tables around the edge of the stage which a few incredibly lucky audience members are invited to sit at during the performance. This setting is excellent, as it creates a much more intimate space between actor and audience, especially in the very well-suited small theatre, which really allows the audience to become fully immersed in the story, feeling as though they are almost in conversation with Will.
In this bar, Will (Michael Waller) tells the story of his friendship with old school friend Billy, who was in a band. Will had been invited to a performance by his friend, only when he arrives instead of it being Billy performing with the band as Will had expected, he instead ends up enchanted by the performance of Candy, Billy’s drag persona. This causes a lot of internal struggles for Will, including multiple sexual fantasy fuelled dreams that leave him rather surprised and confused, which has a huge impact on his entire life. This results in him revealing a lot of his past struggles, and he even takes out his built-up frustrations on his seemingly lonely, love-deprived great aunt ‘Toadface’. It isn’t until a little later in the play that he realizes that ‘Toadface’ wasn’t actually as loveless and empty as she first seemed, and he learns a huge lesson about the complicated concept known as ‘love’. The ending of this play is fantastic, and leaves the audience on a cliffhanger, wishing for more.
Captivating and compelling, full of brilliant moments of comedy and heartbreak, Candy is probably the best piece of theatre I have ever seen. Michal Wallers performance as Will was outstanding. He really brought the story to life through a combination of portraying every character in the story through multirole and just pure talent. You would be a fool to miss this magnificent work of art.