LIVERPOOL PLAYHOUSE – UNTIL 28th SEPTEMBER 2024
REVIEWED BY JEN HUGHES DALEY
5*****
An absolute eye opening and mind-blowing performance. Wonderboy, written by Ross Wilson and Directed by Sally Cookson takes you on a journey through the life experiences of Sonny, a 12 year old boy , navigating his life in foster care and through High School with a debilitating stammer.
Making his theatrical debut, Hilson Agbangbe, (Sonny) utterly blew me away with his insightful and accurate portrayal of a young person with a Special Educational Need and childhood trauma. Working with such children in my day job, the accuracy was profound. I felt every ounce of the frustration, shame and pain etched on his face and oozing from his stimming body.
Music, lights and dance at times gave the performance a thriller edge creating an unmissable atmosphere of tension and angst, catapulting me into what felt like empathetic Sonny emotional rollercoaster.
Captivating, emotional, heart wrenching and hilarious, the very small cast and the very minimal set props only added to the audience emphasis being on every powerful, painful and poignant word spoken and read. The wonderful relationship between Sonny and his teacher, Wainwright (Eva Scott) hit hard. Beautifully portrayed is a teacher who cared and who made a difference even when faces with the wrath of Sonny’s rage and frustration. The silences, the sounds, the facial expressions were sometimes more powerful than the spoken word.
In a juxtaposed, literary world of Comic Strips and Shakespeare, Roshi’s (Hilson Agbangbe) soliloquy synopsis of Hamlet, with a splattering of hilarious obscenities, had the audience in hysterics as did the regular appearance of the much misunderstood Ryvita. I would 100% recommend you go to see this phenomenal performance. Not only entertaining but educational in terms of life through the lens of a Young Person with significant challenges – which this play shone a much needed light on.