Out West (Lyric Hammersmith) London Reviews and Tickets

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About the Show

A trio of new West-London-centred short plays by UK playwrights looking at identity and belonging.

Across three plays, themes of belonging, location, race and direction are explored. Tanika Gupta's "The Overseas Student" is set in 1888 London and follows a newly arrived law student from India: Gandhi at 18 years old. Simon Stephens's "Blue Water and Cold and Fresh", set in 2020, follows a young man who reflects on a modern London influenced by Lockdown, BLM protests and issues of race close to home. Roy Williams's "Go, Girl", also set in 2020 London, takes a celebratory look at the lives of strong Black women as a mother and daughter navigate a dramatic event.

Critic Reviews (8)

Roy Williams’s portrait of a Westfield security guard stands out in this triple bill of monologues at Lyric Hammersmith
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As its title suggests, Out West, a superb triptych of monologues relaunching the Lyric Hammersmith, is united by a strong sense of the local area.
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What lifts [Tanika Gupta's The Overseas Student] is Esh Alladi’s glittering performance; he fully inhabits his character, emanating emotion and intelligence.
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The piece is too long, as are the others in this trio of monologues — all co-directed by Rachel O’Riordan and Diane Page — with a loose local theme.
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You feel as if each of these plays contains even more than their allotted time permits and emerge from the Lyric ready not just to take in the neighbourhood anew but also that little bit wiser about the world.
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Co-directors Rachel O’Riordan and Diane Page bring emotional texture and momentum to all three plays. O’Riordan, who directed the extraordinary Iphigenia in Splott, knows well how to make one voice fill a stage. The pieces together make for a richly layered and reflective triptych.
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The show offers some acute observations, and moving moments, but the constraints of the format only makes me eager to see full-length plays by all three writers.
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In the end it's the words, and the connection between character and audience, that shines through: a welcome return for the splendid west London space.
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