Phoebe Bakker
Seize The Day is a slick script filled with humour and poignancy by the current artistic director of the Young Vic, Kwame Kwei-Armah. Written in the year 2009 it details the journey of Jeremy Charles from reality TV star to running to become London’s first black mayor. Brought back this year in the Tower Theatre by director Mya Onwugbonu.
The script is a delectable feast for any audience member to chew on, and even while watching I found myself thinking of ways to procure a copy of the script to delve further into this world. Conversations touching on racism, classism, and the shifting of identity are explored through the deftness of Kwame Kwei-Armah’s words.
As intensity ramps up in Seize The Day the stakes of the script aren’t always reflected within the actions and emotions on stage leaving it falling slightly flat. That being said there are some really lovely moments between characters that bled through with sincerity and it’s clear that Onwugbonu is skilled in crafting these moments. Highlights include the relationship between Lavelle, played by Temisanren Uwawah, and Jeremey Charles, played by Liam Brown, as well as the relationships between Howard Jones, Ravindar Persaud, Jennifer Thompson played by Jake Bryan-Amaning, Omar Khan, and Sherma Polidore-Perrins. All of which grew throughout the performance.
The playing space of Tower Theatre is lovely. It’s intimate and it makes you, yourself feel like part of the furniture. I particularly liked the choice to create a split set, with half taking up a more domesticated feel and the other a more business and free space. At times it becomes murky, as even with this setup the crossing over of characters into these spaces leaves the illusion destroyed and at points feeling like an intrusion of the space. Equally, each scene felt like individual stories rather than a cog in the overall machine and I think that was due to the reliance on blackouts between scene changes. I would loved some bolder choices of how to connect these scenes as at times it felt like were waiting in the darkness.
Recommended Drink: A negroni sbagliato – a little bit of pizzazz to your classic .
Performances of Seize The Day are at Tower Theatre till Feburary 10th Tickets are available through the Tower Theatre Box Office.
Jake Mace
