Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London – until Sunday 4th August 2024
Reviewed by Phil Brown
4 ****
This set of 6 playlets, running back to back for 90 minutes (no interval), is created from the writings of Charles Bukowski. More of a cult figure in the UK, German born Bukowski, grew up in Los Angeles and pursued a career as an author and poet leaving some impact on underground and mainstream American culture, particularly popular music. Time magazine named him “laureate of American lowlife” and one can’t help thinking that LA, a magnet for the full spectrum of personalities on a mission, would have played a major part in forming his ideas and generating oddball characters.
Life with a Little “L” is described as a dramatic composition in the genre of “dirty realism”, set in, and with music from, the 1950s to the 1970s. Whilst the title for this intriguing sequence of performances implies some grittiness from life at the margins, this is Bukowski, and we’ve learnt that apparently ordinary lives, lived by ordinary people, mostly behind closed doors, can turn up some very bizarre behaviours once exposed by circumstances beyond their control. This is a compelling and relate-able, but not always comfortable watch. It’s not all downbeat though, some of the more awkward scenes also have comic moments.
The ambitious adaptation to the stage (Art Theatre) shows flair and serious expertise. I doubt it could have been bettered (director – Anya Viller). Each story mixes explanatory narration and dialogue cleverly, whilst the sparse but imaginative staging (Alexandra Dashevskaya), well chosen costumery (Joseph Nigoghossian), and atmospheric lighting (Benjamin Vetluzhskikh) are well judged and support each of the performances brilliantly. The focus is always firmly on the two or three actors on stage.
The acting performances by 5 exceptionally versatile players are out of this world good. The cast of three women (Victoria Valcheva, Eileen Duffy, Francesca Waterworth) and two men (James Viller, Will Stevens) bring these stories to life with energy and nuance. Maybe it’s me, but I particularly enjoyed the convincing American accents – I can’t see this show working as well using any other diction. On occasion, the snatches of contemporary music deployed typically at the start and end of the stories, do frustratingly overwhelm some key spoken lines.
The six stories constituting Life with a Little “L” are:
- ‘Loneliness’ – a woman mulls over and then responds to a “Woman Wanted” ad she sees in a car window, leading to a spooky encounter
- ‘Hard without music’ – a man advertises his music collection and eventually sells it to two nuns for $35
- ‘A Man’ – a woman escapes an abusive husband and visits a down and out acquaintance in a trailer park and he gradually succumbs to his lust for her legs
- ‘Love for $17.50’ – a man becomes obsessed with a mannequin in a shop window and eventually buys her for company (and more?)
- ‘A .45 to pay the rent’ – a man and his daughter have a surreal relationship during the normal day. He then prepares to “work the night shift” of crime.
- ‘Post Office’ – Bukowski’s first, autobiographical novel covering work for the US Post. As Hank Chinaski, it focuses on his relationship with his first wife Joyce
These brief descriptions give a flavour of what to expect but hardly do justice to the richness of the material and the subtle qualities of the performances.
Life with a Little “L” could be seen by some as containing somewhat controversial elements in this day and age of heightened sensitivities to outdated attitudes. This material does come from a different time and reflects the cultural norms of 50 years ago. Nevertheless, it remains intriguing, and has much wider appeal than may be obvious at first glance. The performance was well attended in Riverside’s Studio 3, but the challenge both theatre and company have is to reach a much wider audience.
This series of outstanding performances make both the mundane and the borderline extreme, totally absorbing and irresistible. This deserves a decent marketing push and to go mainstream. Highly recommended.