‘Death makes numbers less definite,’ so says grieving brother Willem in this bittersweet monologue by Simon Stephens.
Featuring music by Mark Eitzel, and directed by Kirk Jameson, Song From Far Away arrives in Hampstead after a previous run at Manchester’s venue Home, once again performed by pop star Will Young.
There are many poignant lines in Stephens’ 80-minute drama about grief, but this is more a play about how to carry on living. Young’s immersion in the role is clearly a brave and generous move given that he lost his own twin brother three years ago. The struggle to make sense of life in what feels like a senseless void of everyday noise and bluster is the focus.
Hedge fund manager Willem narrates his reunion with his estranged family in the form of imaginary letters to deceased younger musician brother, Pauli.
Starting with a description of his flight from New York, home of fourteen years, Willem details his arrival in Amsterdam, his childhood home. Both are conveyed as shiny worlds filled with glistening buildings. Character observations are critical, waspish: his perfect sister who tidies their parents’ home, the gay pick-up preoccupied with murder. But Willem isn’t a reliable narrator as he is also savagely self-critical. After texting his ex, he confides he ended the relationship because it didn’t match his notion of perfection.
Sporting dyed blonde hair and a preppy jumper; Young’s Willem looks simultaneously celestial and prematurely middle-aged, a discombobulated angel grown fusty due to a hinterland of never feeling properly loved. The stunning titular song is ephemeral, dream-like. Ingrid Hu’s set conveys the anodyne glamour of luxury travel, flecked with melancholy magic when snow falls behind the vast glass windows.
There’s a brilliant scene when the lighting becomes ghostly and Willem vents his anger at Pauli for dying unexpectedly of a heart attack. The roster of emotions associated with grief are too intelligently dramatised ever to feel tick-box. Young’s musical background means he delivers Stephens’ elegiac writing with a stunning purity and grace. His singing in this intimate space is just beautiful.
Desolate yes. But by taking a hard look in the mirror, it’s possible to glimpse redemption.
Song From Far Away runs at Hampstead Theatre until July 22.
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