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London,
Nicholas de Jongh's rating
Reader rating
Brave performance: Will Young plays Nicky Lancaster with just the right impotent despair
It has taken more than 80 years and the performance of Will Young, the gay pop idol who has never acted on stage before, to bring out the full truth about Nicky Lancaster, Noël Coward's angry young man in The Vortex.
So Jo Combes's ingenious in-the-round production, at this beautiful glass-and-steel theatre, generates frissons of surprise. People at the 1924 premiere enjoyed frissons too, being scandalised by this fascinating but atypical Coward, in which the Master took lethal aim at the decadent cocktail-and-laughter society of London in the hedonistic 1920s.
For once Coward did much more than make his languid sophisticates figures of witty fun. Yet those audiences and those critics turned blind eyes to one crucial fact, at which Coward, in an age of strict stage censorship, could only hint, and of which Will Young now makes us provocatively aware.
Twenty-four-year-old Nicky returns from France to make revelations and discoveries at home, a flat which designer Lez Brotherston has fashioned as a lovely black and silver, art deco circular platform, adorned with piano, gramophone and glass-free mirror.
His mother, the fluttering social butterfly Florence, superlatively brought to narcissistic, emotionally retarded life by Diana Hardcastle, is adulterously entwined with Sam Heughan's Guardsman Tom Veryan, who is young enough to be Nicky's brother.
Her sad, cuckolded husband - David Peart - keeps his wary distance. David Fielder's waspish, slightly overdone queen, Florence's presumably lesbian best friend, Alexandra Mathie's trenchant Helen and Rhiannon Oliver's caricature of a singer complete her admiring circle.
Young's petulant Nicky is caught up in a cool, or frankly frigid, "sort of try-out" engagement with Laura Rees's stylish Bunty Mainwaring, from which he detaches himself, but Coward insisdisguisedtently implies that the cause of this mother-obsessed young man's unhappiness and secret cocaine-taking is his homosexuality.
In a Hamlet-like bedroom scene, he tries to make Hardcastle's angry, ashamed Florence see the truth about herself and her supposed role in making his life such a mess.
"We're utterly rotten, both of us," he accuses his mendacious mama, who grieves over the loss of Tom to Bunty as if she were a sixteen-year-old at the end of her first love-affair.
Coward links Florence, with her unashamed appetite for young men and Nicky, the coke addict with his shamed awareness of being gay, as people who cannot face hard reality.
The actors who have played Nicky, from Noël Coward himself in 1924 to Dirk Bogarde and Rupert Everett, have disguised or glossed over this crucial gayness. Not so Will Young.
Slightly lisping, emotionally delicate, prone to petulance and with the disquieting air of a vulnerable child out of his depth, this Nicky exudes the effeminacy of which Tom accuses him.
Young is surprisingly weak-voiced at times and he delivers his tirades with insufficient emotion or fury, but this brave, remarkable performance is charged with the right impotent despair.
In an absolutely brilliant directorial stroke, Combes implies that Nicky's addiction is not risky cocaine but lifethreatening heroin. The Vortex therefore acquires a fresh, stinging, contemporary relevance.
Miss Hardcastle, the best Florence I have seen, floats sexily around in a haze of self-adoration and a shimmering dress, until faced with home truths. She then poignantly dwindles to the status of a frightened child, out of her depth.
This Vortex, with its delectable period songs and style, ought to be London-bound.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
When I first learned that Will Young was to perform 'Nicky' in ‘The Vortex’ I was a little concerned for him. The Royal Exchange is renowned for being a challenge, even for the more seasoned actor. Being on a circular stage allows for few, if any mistakes, and requires an ability to engage the audience, even when they are looking at the back of an actor's head.
I saw the play last night, and I'm afraid to say, Will jumped in at the deep end and was left doing the doggy paddle. It wasn't that he was bad. In fact, he was surprisingly good. But when acting with professionals who have made acting their life's work, one needs to be outstanding just to blend in.
I believe what he lacked was depth. When playing a character, it is important to play them scene-by-scene. Of course an overall understanding is required, but there were no nuances, no surprises.
I think these things will come with time, and Will certainly showed a promising start to a fine career in acting, but was the Royal Exchange the right beginning? I'm not sure.
- Rosie, Cheshire
Having seen Will Youngs peformance the question I have is, does Nicholas De jongh understand acting at all ? Young's performance was a generalised wash of petulance and bright campery. It had very little to do with the lines Coward had written for his character Nicky.
The portrayal of Nicky was quite unclear. Young simply failed to show the psychology of his character. There was no variation in tone and pace and an almost complete lack of choices based on the text. All of this is basic work that a good actor would have made the foundation of his performance.
That De Jongh failed to grasp that Will young had not done the very basics as an actor really makes me fear for actors who are turning in geuninely disciplined and revelatory performances. With a critic as far wide of the mark as this, good acting will suffer and bad acting will flourish.
- Basil Carterette, Kentish Town
I was lucky enough to go to the press night, and was most impressed with Will Youngs performance as Nicky Lancaster from his first scene to his last Will was very convincing and compelling to watch. The whole cast are wonderful, I especially like the parts of Helen and the butler/ Mr Fairlight, but the final scene between Nicky and Florence was just so emotional I was sat on the edge of my seat!
Well done Mr Young I think you have a very promising acting career ahead of you.
- Cath Plant, Manchester
Never mind London, bring it to Brum!! It's a fantastic, funny, moving and disturbing interpretation. Will Young is simply outstanding and displays astute comic timing while portraying Nicky's babylike vulnerability and emptiness so skilfully. Laura Rees' Bunty is cool and powerful, and Diana Hardcastle's Florence makes you angry and sympathetic all at once. It's not to be missed.
- Nicola, B'ham
A wonderful rendition of this delicate play. I enjoyed it immensely, and the whole cast gelled together with such ease. I went to a different performance and heard every word quite clearly, and I was completely engrossed.
The actors were just perfection, and although Will Young is an excellent singer, I must say I was rather dubious of him being cast as Nicky, but I needn't have worried, as this was a stroke of couragous genius, as he gave a stupendous performance. I thoroughly recommend this play.
- Stu, E. Sussex, UK
A fantstic review, thank you. Yes Will Young should be very proud of himself. His comic timing is excellent and the last scene is heart wrenching. Well done to all involved in the play and its production.
- R Pearson, West Midlands
What a great review - spot on. I found the vulnerability of the childlike Nicky almost too much to bear at the end. Will Young! What a revelation! Diana Hardcastle - excellent as usual. The actress who played Helen was also outstanding. Great production - hope it goes to London.
- Susan Dowling, Manchester
As I am going up to Manchester on Friday to see this play, it is good to read that Will Young manages to find his own take on Nicky Lancaster, probably with the help of the director, Jo Combes.
I am very much looking forward to this now.
- Frauke S., London, UK
