Evelyn – Southwark Playhouse

In a small Northern beach town, an accomplice to the murder of her own child has moved under police protection after serving 3 years in prison. Escaping her abusive relationship, her grief and horrific past she begins to start life anew with a new relationship and friends. Only until the power of social media, the mob isn’t far behind on a hunt to find out where Evelyn Mills escaped to with an obsessive mission to make sure she knows she doesn’t belong. Focusing on the concept of internet mobs taking justice into their own hands and questioning when forgiveness is actually accepted by the community allowing the rehabilitation of criminals into our society.

Evelyn played by Nicola Harrison was a dark, quiet presence on stage who controlled how much she was seen as a person desperately trying to disappear which became harder as the social media trolls find her. Evelyn moved to this town taking shelter in a retirement estate in the shed of the brilliant Rula Lenska’s character who was a shining star in this performance, excellent comedy timing paired with a desperate grief for not protecting her daughter enough during her childhood. As her memory deteriorates, her nurse Laura (Yvette Boakye) grows closer to newcomer Evelyn however grows more and more aware of her inaccurate stories and joins the hunting mob. Conflicted only by boyfriend and Laura’s brother Kev (Offue Okbegbe) who ultimately chooses Evelyn no matter her past.

This story opens lots of room to question your ability to forgive and where boundaries set in for past mistakes, particularly when it comes to female accomplices to murder as we assume female morale is more prevalent in crime. However, in this play I felt like this question got lost in the chaos and multiple storylines. The boyfriend played a huge part in this as he was the only character willing to forgive her as he loved her in the present however this relationship felt a little distant and hard to believe maybe with the choreography being slightly stale, I just did not believe his love for Evelyn and therefore made the argument to forgive slightly weaker. Possibly we needed to see a more friendly and kind part of Evelyn to come through to really differentiate the opposing sides to her, to allow the audience in and trust her so we can question if she really has embraced rehabilitation.

The stage and sound were a really exciting part of this production as it looked beautiful with a perfect amount of creepiness paired excellently with live musician and artist Michael Crean who underscored the whole piece. This was one of the most exciting parts of the play however felt slightly lost when the main text came back as I wasn’t sure where the creepy aspect fit into her survival. However, thought the Punch and Judy moments were fantastic and could even lean more into the chaos of puppetry. This also was performed by Laura, Evelyn and Kev so we got to see the true extension of our casts talent, particularly shining on Yvette Boakye who was absolutely excellent throughout and couldn’t stop watching.

A chaotic, creepy piece that left me underwhelmed.

Playing until 16th July, https://www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/the-large/evelyn/

Reviewer: Alice Rose

Reviewed: 27th June 2022

North West End UK Rating: ★★