On Wednesday evening, the Hull Truck Theatre audience gave Hessle Theatre Company’s production of Dear Evan Hansen well-deserved thunderous applause at the show’s end; with the leading actor getting a standing ovation.
The young actor in question, Liam Hatt, in his debut with the company, took the part of Evan Hansen, giving a mesmerising performance.
Dear Evan Hansen revolves around a socially anxious teenager, desperate to belong.
Set in modern times, social media plays an enormous part in proceedings and
the amazing stage backdrop portrays moving images relating that.
It’s social media that causes heartache, tragedy, shock, sadness, regret and shame when Evan inadvertently prints out a letter to himself, part of his assignment given by his therapist who charges him to write a letter to himself every day stating “Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day and here’s why”.
His latest letter states it’s not an amazing day after all and contains Evan’s feelings towards classmate Zoe Murphy (Hannah Bedworth) whom he fancies from afar. However, Zoe is the sister of Evan’s nemesis, Connor Murphy (Joseph Walker), who finds the letter and pockets it.
Evan sports an arm in plaster that he broke when falling out of a tree. Sadly, the teen later confesses to his mother, Heidi (Emma Burgess) that he deliberately fell from the tree, to try to end his lonely life.
Despite asking several classmates to sign the plaster, only Connor takes the Sharpie off Evan, writing his name in huge letters for all to see. This act alone plays a significant role in the seemingly unstoppable chain of events that rock the worlds of all those involved.
I have to reveal the unpopular Connor commits suicide, as it’s the discovery of Evan’s letter in his pocket that leads his parents, Cynthia (Sarah North) and Larry (Jamie Wilkes) to meet who they think is the recipient of their son’s letter, Evan.
Evan tries to tell them the truth, but one falsehood after another spouts from his mouth and, thanks to social media, everyone soon believes the lie that he and Connor were best friends.
His mischievous “family friend” Jared (George Immanuel), for a price, helps Evan to concoct fake emails, supposedly from Connor to Evan, to show to the grieving parents, who begin treating Evan as their own.
Friendless classmate Alana (Alexia Ho) finds herself excitedly embroiled in events, kidding herself she was also his best friend.
However, when she realises Evan is not as committed to The Connor Project – which aims to raise money to reopen a closed orchard that the boys supposedly loved to visit – she becomes suspicious of Evan’s story. And it’s her suspicion that leads to the whole house of cards coming tumbling down around Evan’s young ears.
The thought-provoking story highlights how social media can affect the mental health of young people. Featuring music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, with a book by Steven Levenson, it is brought to life by a very talented cast of eight, aided and abetted by an ensemble of 12, and backed by live musicians.
I did find the singing was drowned out early on by the loud music, especially the drumming. But I soon got used to it and in no way did it spoil my enjoyment.
Thanks to the use of head mics, usually every word could be clearly heard.
The stage setting consisted of panels, turned at times to reveal Evan’s and Connor’s home environments. After use, they became part of the busy backdrop I mentioned earlier. Genius.
Costumes were run-of-the-mill joggers, T-shirts, trainers etc for the most part.
As for the super talented cast, the one who made us giggle the most was Immanuel as Jared.
The more he swore the more we laughed. North and Wilkes portrayed the bereaved parents with the right amount of gravity, shock, anger and sadness, while their daughter (Bedworth in her debut with the company) realistically revealed repressed rage about her hateful brother getting all the attention. She also had a beautiful singing voice. In fact, all singing voices on the night were credible.
Walker as Connor scared us just by his menacing look, while Ho as classmate Alana had the opposite effect, her friendly face showing a naive, innocent character.
The most passionate performance came from Burgess as Evan’s mum, Heidi. Her moving rendition of So Big/So Small, where she comforts her son towards the show’s end, proved a real show-stopper. Her singing voice was a highlight throughout the show as were her emotive outbursts.
But the obvious star of the show is Matt as Evan. What a superstar. His every nervous mannerism showed in his movements, on his face, in his faltering speech and in his lovely singing voice with high and low notes sung perfectly.
Once again, this community theatre company delighted its audience with a fabulously entertaining night of theatre.
Recommended age 14+
Dear Evan Hansen runs until Saturday, September 12th 2026 at Hull Truck Theatre, with tickets available from www.hulltruck.co.uk and (01482) 323638
Reviewer: Jackie Foottit
Reviewed: 9th September 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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