Richmond Theatre, London – until Saturday 10th November 2018
Reviewed by Lisa Harlow
5*****
Rain Man is brought to the stage courtesy of Bill Kenwright Productions’ Classic Screen to Stage Company. A reminder that this film is now thirty years old and is a classic!
Originally featuring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, this film focused on two brothers rediscovering not just each other, but an ability to grow outside of their own shell, created by different circumstances but ultimately firmly shaped by the same hard-hearted father. Raymond Babbitt (Mathew Horne) is the autistic older brother, or ‘savant’, who exhibits extraordinary abilities and becomes the beneficiary of the will on the passing of the father but who had been left at an Institute since a young age.
The younger brother Charlie (Ed Speleers) is your classic 80’s American car dealer hustler stereotype: self-obsessed, unable to emotionally express himself, preoccupied with getting himself out of the latest financial scrape and making money, all whilst wearing chinos, loafers and a very flamboyant hairdo. He cannot remember the presence of a brother, and is estranged from his father (following the stealing of his father’s 1949 Buick convertible resulting in a prison stay). His eye is firmly on the financial prize. When he discovers that there is a trust fund and it is in fact in the name of his brother, he begins a crude attempt to use him as leverage by kidnapping him from the hospital.
The outset is loud and brash, as was the true raging heart of the 80’s, and the dialogue flies at the audience at top speed, almost not allowing digestion. By the time the brothers are introduced, the pace begins to drop and the audience are immersed in the content completely. Mathew Horne as Raymond is compelling from the moment he sets foot on stage. Even every departure he makes from stage demands attention. His mastery of the character, his ticks, traits, vulnerabilities, superpowers – however you may label them – prompts an overwhelming feeling of nurturance and compassion. Ed Speleers meets this quality in turn, and as a pair their energy fills the stage in a powerful, funny and, at times, raw manner.
People may wonder if today’s lens allows this content, written in the eighties, to be palatable, to be laughed at and to be truly enjoyed. It is. And this is a tribute to all the cast as it is so intensely and beautifully held and performed. The emotion in the end scenes was palpable as a chorus of gulps could be heard through the audience, restraining their tears. There is a tenderness and eventual spiritual breakthrough for Charlie that is not cliché or cringeworthy. A truly moving and evocative performance.