I decided not to research on what this play was about or read any previous reviews and just let myself engage with Song From Far Away by Simon Stephens and Mark Eitzel, and starring as Willem, the talented Will Young.
Knowing that the actor wasn’t, I was a little taken aback that Willem was American, but was pleased at how the accent was perfectly reproduced without the usual falseness one can hear when Brits are asked to ‘do’ stateside.
After receiving a phone call, Willems life is changed forever as he learns of the death of his brother Pauli.
This is a beautifully put together monologue where Willem relives (through the letters he wrote to his dead brother at the time) the details of what happens to him afterwards and how the news opens a whole array of feelings as disbelief, shock, sadness, guilt and longing followed by self realisation hits.
The journey back ‘Home’ to Amsterdam for the funeral to a family he has been away from for years and the meeting with his former lover is heartbreaking.
I was totally immersed in the character Willem, with his bitchy humour, directness and raw and utter sadness at the road he had travelled.
Willem was brought to life brilliantly by Will Young’s understated acting and delicate stage presence which was matched aesthetically by the stage set and lighting which altered seamlessly as the world opened and closed around him.
At the end of the production it almost comes as a shock to hear such heavenly and evocative singing from this flawed but so very human individual.
Totally engaging.
