'FLYBY' review — this singular new astronaut musical is an otherworldly voyage

Read our review of FLYBY, starring Stuart Thompson and Poppy Baker, now in performances at Southwark Playhouse to 16 May.

Summary

• New musical FLYBY premieres at Southwark Playhouse
• The story centres on an astronaut and his fraught relationship
• Poppy Baker and Stuart Thompson impress in the lead roles
• Theo Jamieson's score features beautiful string-led music

Featuring music and lyrics by Theo Jamieson and co-created by director Adam Lenson, FLYBY is a singular new musical that isn’t easy to define. One of the protagonists happens to be an astronaut, but it isn’t a show about that particular career. It revolves around a central male/female relationship, but it isn’t a love story. It’s hard to say whether it's more profound or obtuse – these qualities are perhaps equally weighted.

Daniel Defoe (like the Robinson Crusoe author; played by Stuart Thompson) works for NASA’s less successful European equivalent and has gone through life as bit of a misfit. At some point, he gets involved with the volatile Emily Baker (Poppy Baker – currently appearing as Lizzy in the BBC’s The Other Bennet Sister). Their story is told as a series of non-linear vignettes, a bit like a weirder version of The Last Five Years, in which we’re never quite sure what they had in common in the first place.

We learn that the self-doubting Daniel (“adorable for a rocket scientist”, according to one of Emily’s friends) has finally fulfilled his dream of going into space, in part to gain over 300 million kilometres in distance between himself and his ex. Now a producer of award-winning documentaries, Emily is the daughter of an avant-garde filmmaker notorious for creating the most disturbing children’s film of all time and has a few childhood traumas of her own. The character is far from endearing, but Gilbert’s presence is magnetic.

A catalogue of over 2,000 of Daniel’s past traumas is projected for all to see like a darker Every Brilliant Thing (though they do include being “Told to tidy room” and “Discouraged from wearing humorous hat”, as well as incidents of genuine cruelty). Emily’s bullying tendencies seem to come from a combination of nepo baby entitlement (something that she harshly criticises a junior colleague for) and mental health issues, though that’s never addressed directly.

What’s most arresting about the piece is the way in which Jamieson, whose previous projects include The Famous Five and the BBC audio musical U.Me, displays a considerable gift for melody, with some really beautiful string-led music. At times, it calls to mind the works of Dave Malloy, as well as lusher influences, showcasing the purity of Thompson’s tenor and Gilbert’s strong belt. There’s lovely, delicately balanced work from the six-piece band led by Ben Kubiak (my companion commented that their presence above the stage was like being able to see into the inner workings of Daniel’s spaceship).

The roles of the three narrators – Rupert Young, Gina Beck, and Simbi Akande – are underdeveloped; they provide a vaguely professorial commentary, and Young and Beck briefly play Emily’s parents. It’s luxury casting as all three performers are unusually high profile for what’s essentially ensemble work.

The production is staged on a right angle with most of the scenes set in a distinctly non-cosmic living room (set design by Libby Todd). Lenson himself provides the video design for when we’re launched into space and the effect is unexpectedly striking. It’s undoubtedly a perplexing piece, and while the book could do with a considerable amount of revision, it is deserving of admiration for being so unusual and wilfully uncommercial. It follows its own path and everyone who sees it, for better or worse, is sure to have a different response.

FLYBY is at Southwark Playhouse to 16 May. Book FLYBY tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: FLYBY (Photos by Alex Brenner)