'Affluenza' review — Noah Schnapp stars in a timely play about the moral corruption of wealth and privilege

Read our review of Andy Sandberg's new play Affluenza, now in performances at Riverside Studios to 28 November.

Summary

• Andy Sandberg's play Affluenza premieres at Riverside Studios
• It examines the moral corruption of privelege via a wealthy teenager who causes a fatal car crash
• Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp makes his London stage debut
• The cast also features Rupert Young and Strictly Come Dancing's Janette Manrara

Gaten Matarazzo may be heading up the West End revival of RENT, but down the river his Stranger Things co-star Noah Schnapp is also making his London stage debut in Andy Sandberg’s new play Affluenza.

Set in the ultra-rich world of the Hamptons, Sandberg’s intriguing concept examines how money and privilege can cause moral corruption that impacts through the generations. Inspired by a real-life US court case, 16-year-old Dylan gets into his dad’s car drunk and causes a crash which kills two people and disables several others. His defence lawyer comes up with the argument of ‘affluenza’, meaning Dylan is too cossetted from real life by his family’s wealth to be able to take responsibility for his own actions.

With the shocking events at Cornell University currently in the headlines, the themes of Affluenza could have shaped a timely and important play. But rather than examining a world where money and status can both protect and absolve someone from responsibility, Sandberg (who also directs) ignores the trial and its preparation entirely, bouncing quickly through an underdeveloped subplot about a father seeking justice for his daughter. After the interval we seem to be watching another play entirely, as we jump ahead to Dylan’s life as a dysfunctional adult, starring in a reality TV show with his potty-mouthed girlfriend and reluctant son.

A dramaturg is urgently needed to add structure to a production that goes off on bizarre and unnecessary tangents, including an inexplicable scene where a cameraman sings along to almost the entire duration of Joan Osborne’s “One Of Us”. Sandberg’s frequent attempts to bring sitcom-esque comedy into the show land awkwardly, particularly as the TV crew try to spice up events to create dramatic television.

Although given top billing, Schnapp’s parts are surprisingly small. He has little to do in the first half as insufferable son Dylan. He has more to say in the second act playing Dylan’s own dissatisfied son, full of convincing angst and resentment towards a father who has amounted to very little, selling their private lives for 15 minutes of fame.

The rest of the cast do their best to multi-role with an underwritten and clunky script. Donald Sage Mackay is angrily arrogant as Dylan’s venal father and Juliet Cowan seems permanently dazed as his clueless mother.

Rupert Young brings some gravitas to Brad, the conflicted lawyer who takes on the case. He is challenged by his wife, played by Wallis Currie-Wood, who later is wildly over-the-top as Dylan’s girlfriend Crystal. Strictly Come Dancing’s Janette Manrara floats from maid to boom operator, finding depth in the role of a lawyer urging families to settle the subsequent civil case.

On press night, there were also several issues with sound, with actors frequently sounding as though they were speaking from inside a cave. Charlie Corcoran’s handsome set features the stylish Hamptons home of the family, which contains moving sections that slickly become other locations at the side of the stage.

There is so much potential in the ideas within Affluenza to really analyse the impact of huge prosperity on integrity and human decency. Unfortunately, the result is a missed opportunity to say anything thoughtful at all.

Affluenza is at Riverside Studios to 28 November. Book Affluenza tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Affluenza (Photos by Danny Kaan)