Seven Dials Theatre – until 19th March 2022
Reviewed by Emily Cliff
4****
Making its European debut at the cosy setting of the Seven Dials theatre hidden away in Soho, Steve is a charming and comedic production. A post-theatre kid dreamland, following the lives of a friendship group gripping onto their youth with an iron fist and refusing to acknowledge the fact that they’re growing old.
The stage set-up of this play is fantastic, a series of conversations over the span of a year in different restaurants cafes and classic new york apartments. Audience members can even be a part of the immersive set themselves with tables and chairs set up on stage. Simple images and videos were projected onto blank poster frames and basic furniture was used in such a way that each set felt completely different to the last whilst only changing one or two things.
The story itself follows the crumbling relationship and midlife crisis of couple Steven (David Ames) and Stephen (Joe Aaron) and how their friends deal with sex, open relationships and the devastating diagnosis of their dear friend Carrie (Jenna Russell). Filled with beautiful tributes through both music and staging to the late and great Stephen Sondheim, this play is a comforting escape for anyone who has used theatre as a means to escape before now. The characters all share a love for all things musical and broadway related and each of their eclectic personalities shine throughout the whole play.
Life is generally hard, and no matter what stage of life you’re in there will always be some new struggle or hurdle to get over. Steve takes this philosophy and wears it on its sleeve. Each of the characters is obviously going through some sort of midlife crisis however the story doesn’t take anything away from the characters. It is balanced in a beautifully chaotic mess that imitates the beauty of their lives and each complex storyline that followed.
Overall Steve was funny, sad and openly honest in all of the right places. Incredibly self-aware the touching story on navigating life, relationships and death in your forties is memorable and so beautifully, brutally honest and something that will stick with the viewer hours after watching.