Sibling rivalry taking centre stage is music to the ears in Jonathan Caren’s account of two brothers pursuing careers – and each other – in the rock music industry
As I took my seat next to one of an impressive number of young men in the audience, I wondered why this show had attracted them. The twenty-something young man sitting next to me confided that Josh Radnor, who plays Wes, one of the brothers at the heart of the story, has a great following, especially for his key role in the Emmy nominated series How I Met Your Mother.
Noah Galvin, who plays younger brother Alex is also a writer and producer and starred as the title character in the hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. All of the cast of three are male, though there are women we don’t meet who are almost tangible, as their part in the story is so central.
Wes is a leading music producer, enjoying the fruits of his success as is evident from the spacious and luxurious LA home where Alex has come to visit him. As Wes shows Alex around he points out his eight bedrooms and walls decorated by platinum discs (Amelia Jane Hankin’s set and costumes perfectly evoke the louche sensibility of a music mogul). He has marital problems though – all that glisters is not actually gold.
It soon seems clear that brotherly love is not the reason for Alex’s visit. He has his own ideas of how to create new music on the laptop he carries, which he treats like a musical instrument in a way that soon becomes fascinating.
There are other reasons for Alex’s visit. Both brothers have evidently suffered from having a controlling father as children, and their mother now has financial problems, which Alex has come to flag up to the older brother whom he has always looked up to.
Jealousy, masculinity and intergenerational trauma are just some of the issues touched on by the play, some more fully explored than others. Wes, in particular, expresses insecurity and dissatisfaction with his lot, but he does have a new artist to represent – a wildly impressive punk performer with the brilliant stage moniker ‘Defy The Leader’. In the hands of Khalil Madovi, Defy is more like a hurricane than a breath of fresh air.
Madovi is also responsible for the music and lyrics of two of the songs that feature in the show and he collaborated on a third with the Grammy-winning Ben Harper.
Hit Machine packs a lot into its 75 minutes but director Daniel Bailey calibrates playwright Jonathan Caren’s intimate and edgy drama perfectly.
By Judi Herman
Photos by Bautista Araya & Jennifer Forward-Hayter
Hit Machine runs to Saturday 15 August. 7pm Mon to Sat. 2.30pm Thurs & Sat. Prices £29-£62 (Members from £25). Soho Theatre, 21 Dean St, London W1D 3NE. tickets@sohotheatre.com. Box Office 020 74780100