★★★★★
Writer Stephen Beresford’s musical adaptation of his own 2014 film is a triumph. Under the assured direction of Matthew Warchus – who also directed the film – with a by-turns playful and powerful score by Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen and DJ Walde, Pride succeeds in packing a wallop of an emotional punch while never neglecting to find the very human humour in even its most sombre moments. It’s an impassioned and timely plea for seeking out common ground. You’ll laugh-cry your way through it.
As with the film, the show draws on the extraordinary real life story of how, in 1984, a group of gays and lesbians, led by fiery socialist Mark (Jhon Lumsden), raised donations and travelled to the small Welsh village of Onllwyn to support its striking miners against a common enemy: the British establishment. Along the way, the story takes in the media smear tactics and daily intimidation facing and uniting these seemingly dissimilar groups. It also unflinchingly charts the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS.
Beresford sketches the colourful cast of characters with precision and wit, perfectly catching their personalities in the briefest lines of dialogue. Lumsden confidently walks Mark’s tightrope of charisma, drive and self-righteousness. Lewis Cornay is sweet as ‘newbie’ gay, Bromley. Jordan Shaw gets big laughs as humility-untroubled Reggie, while generating some friction by questioning the benefit to gay rights of the flamboyance of former actor, Jonathan, who is played by a scene-stealing Samuel Barnett – conveying vulnerability and a lifetime of defiance with just the arch of an eyebrow.
Pride packs an emotional punch while never neglecting the humour in even its most sombre moments
There are also strong performances on the Welsh front, as Warchus leans into the humour of the difference but also the respect between the two groups when they first meet. Darren Lawrence is quietly affecting as Cliff, leader of the men’s union, while Kirsty Malpass’s formidable Hefina, Gillian Elisa’s endlessly inquisitive Gwen and Sarah Pugh’s Siân, who wants more from her life, are a joy to watch and a complete riot during a hilariously staged, eye-opening trip to Soho. The ensemble beautifully knit together their growing camaraderie.
Nightingale, Cohen and Walde wisely avoid trying to ape ’80s music. Instead, the score is as tonally fluid as Beresford’s script and lyrics. It propels the narrative numbers forward on the crest of a beat; provides a gleeful homage to disco during a cathartically show-stopping, snake-hipped dance by Barnett in a Welsh working men’s club; and borders the mournfulness of a song about HIV/AIDS with a rock-infused anger. If a play becomes a musical when words alone aren’t enough, this story of people wanting to express who they are works perfectly.
And it’s never just a jolly holiday. Crucially, Beresford and Warchus never shy away from the rejection, the loss and the pain experienced by these people. And just as the richly empathetic script finds those sharp edges, designer Bunny Christie’s impressively adaptable set can quickly shift from the buzz of a multi-levelled club to an empty chair in a doctor’s waiting room. The show flies high by finding the politics in looking forward hopefully – but this only works because it gives space to heartbreak. There’s a battle cry behind the music.
Pride is at the National Theatre, Dorfman until Sep 12. Buy tickets here.
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