Electric, theatre review: Melodrama at the movies

Electric is billed as an immersive promenade show but despite committed performances from a cast of 18, it ends up being rather static, says Henry Hitchings
Committed performances: Henrietta Imoreh as Faith with Tyrell Jeremiah
Henry Hitchings23 November 2015

The Big House, founded by Maggie Norris in 2013, is a theatre company that works with young people who have been in care, enabling them to make their voices heard through performance. Previous successes have included Phoenix, which focused on a teenager seeking redemption in athletics, and The Realness, a musical about an ex-offender trying to stay on the straight and narrow.

Now they return with a piece that’s less obviously connected to their mission. It’s a celebration of Dalston’s Rio cinema, a fine Art Deco venue with a memorably curvaceous blue and pink interior, an interesting history and an uncertain future.

Electric is billed as an immersive promenade show. Yet rather than introducing the audience to an environment that’s ripe for exploration, it involves some slightly awkward shuffling — the space in which it happens, underneath the cinema, is compact and doesn’t have great intrinsic interest. Designer Ellan Parry has embellished it with film posters and the hallmarks of neglect, but although some of the smaller rooms have been turned into a strip club and a recording studio it’s not an especially atmospheric setting.

The main plot focuses on Faith (Henrietta Imoreh) who is on the run from her vengeful ex. She finds solace in the company of William (James Hogarth), a projectionist who captures her imagination with his passion for the movies, though undermines his efforts with long-winded lectures. We cut away from this story to observe moments from the Rio’s early days (Jasmin Alvarez plays its founder Clara Ludski) and its role as a wartime air raid shelter.

Latest theatre reviews

1/50

There are committed performances from a cast of 18, which includes Tyrell Jeremiah as an imposing con artist and Melissa Madden as an ardently OTT pastor. But Andrew Day’s script is fragmented, and while the project has a raw energy and its ambitions are heartening, the various promising elements in the end collapse into a rather static melodrama.

Until December 12, Rio Cinema (020 7241 9410, riocinema.org.uk)

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT