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REVIEW | NERO - A New Musical, Southwark Playhouse Theatre Elephant - London
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From the creators of Spring Awakening, Steven Sater (Book and Lyrics) and the late Duncan Sheik (Music), comes NERO, making its debut at Southwark Playhouse Elephant. The new musical, whose conception started back in 2003, explores the life of Rome’s most infamous emperor and you would be forgiven for thinking that his exciting life of excess, ambition, cruelty and family drama would make for great theatre. Unfortunately, the show fails to deliver all the way.
As someone who wrote her BA thesis on Spring Awakening, I was particularly excited to see a brand-new show by its creators first-hand. Sheik’s score does offer some familiar sounds, however the music often jumps between different tones too quickly. Together with Sater’s sometimes confusing book, NERO is unsure if it wants to be a satirical comedy or a dark political drama.
Nero (Andrew Barth Feldman) starts off as a spoiled mama’s boy, following every command and devious scheme Agrippina (Sally Dexter) comes up with. He’s mostly a hollow shell, puppetteered around by her, the philosopher Seneca (Stephen Carlile) and later on by the couple Tigellinus (Waylon Jacobs) and Poppea (Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky) to become Rome’s Next Top Emperor. Nero spends most of the musical being a wannabe Greek theatre superstar, breaking into grandiose numbers and obsessed with entertaining the Romans as an actor, musician and performer. Which makes for a surprise when, all of a sudden he seems to turn into a ruthless tyrant capable of ordering assassinations left, right and centre. The transition doesn’t seem to make total sense, and the writing struggles to marry those sides together.
Nero’s relationship with his mother is already disturbing enough, as the two share a kiss almost at the top of the show, but the musical escalates things with the duet “The Lover from Hell”, where their incestuous relationship is consolidated. Nero seems to only have incestuous relationships, after all. His lover Poppea even when pregnant with his child, takes on a motherly role for him, while his wife, mute Octavia (played by Nabi Brown) is actually his step-sister. It seems the show relies on this topic to shock the audience, which, in fairness, it does, but doesn’t explore those relationships much further. That is actually the show’s biggest problem: the scenes seem to abruptly stop, and we are left with a not quite blackout, as the actors shuffle away in different directions, with heavy footsteps and clanky costumes. Southwark Playhouse Elephant might just not be the grand setting NERO needs. Georgia Lowe’s design is too simple, relying on a red curtain alone and in Act 2 on some fogged-up mirrors that reflect actors and audience, maybe a subtle hint that we are not just spectators of this play, but of the horrors of political tyranny, then and now. A more elaborate set would cerainly help elevate the show. The ensemble does, quite literally, the heavy lifting in many scenes and a bigger ensemble cast with some better costuming choices, would help convey the grandeur.
The cast does its best with the material given. Sally Dexter is a hateable yet charming Agrippina, bringing a great voice and authority to the role. Nabi Brown as Octavia and Timo Tatzber as Britannicus (Nero’s step-brother, the real heir to the throne) also deserve bigger roles as they both show promise but are given very little to work with, including a melody repeated ad nauseam. Others like Stephen Carlile as Seneca have a brilliant stage presence but are given incredibly silly scenes to take part in. Take the unfortunately catchy Quelle Surprise, in which Rome’s famous philosopher is surrounded by laughing briefcases with teeth and tongues. Bizarre, cringy, yet annoyingly, extremely catchy. Ah-ah ah-ah-ah- Ah-ah ah (you had to be there).
And then we come to the man himself, Nero is portrayed by Andrew Barth Feldman, who delivers nothing short of a superstar performance, he really gives it everything he has. His vocals are powerful and commanding, but also gentle and touching when needed, before turning completely psychotic. He brings a sort of vulnerability that seems to elude the writing itself. Even when the show struggles, he remains magnetic to watch.
Visually, unfortunately, the production of NERO is just as confused as part of the text. I get the idea of mixing ancient with modern world, and there are plenty of parallels worth exploring, but the execution isn’t particularly successful. The show tried to make political statements about today’s world, in a clear homage to our finest modern tyrants, with direct Trumpian quotes about immigrant aliens and the need to Make Rome Great Again; it only superficially scratches the surface, which would have needed more in-depth analysis to leave any lasting marks on the audience.
I wanted to love NERO but left feeling like the show is a frustrating mix of decent music, interesting ideas and choices that don't quite work, yet. For a show 23 years in the making, maybe going back on the drawing board is far too late, but it could only improve an interesting concept for the better.
★★★
NERO plays until the December 5th at Southwark Playhouse Theatre - Elephant: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/nero/
