Wonder Boy – Liverpool Playhouse

Wonder Boy is a beautifully written piece of theatre which gives the audience a real insight into the struggles of living with a stammer. Following the character of Sonny and following his journey from frustration to freedom. Written by Ross Willis and directed by Sally Cookson with thought, precision and an excellent and imaginative portrayal of the frustration and expression of speaking with a stammer.

A beautifully put together play which captivates you from the beginning, you are immediately drawn and sympathetic to the main character of Sonny, who was performed by Hilson Agbangbe who produced a strong and diverse performance and helped you to warm easily to the character and depicted Sonny’s difficulties within the real world. Sonny’s character cannot be mentioned without the excellent support of his hero Captain Chatter played by Ciaran O’Breen. It should be mentioned that he perfectly supported this show by providing an excellent piece of physical theatre and inclusivity within the performance through signing. For a character with no speaking part, he held his own excellently as a main character.

Comedic timing, excellent expression and laughter, as well as characters which delighted me every time they were present on stage is Roshi (Naia Elliott-Spence) and Miss Wainwright (Meg Matthews). Excellent portrayals of likable characters who despite the brightness of their roles have a real vulnerability.

Finally, Jessica Murrain who played an excellent role switching between two very different characters with ease and demonstrating a strong differentiation between the roles which are so vital to the play.

The lighting and sound by Aiden Malone and Jonathan Everett was excellently orchestrated to portray the changes in mood, scenes, character expression, pace and overall atmosphere of the play against a simplistic but extremely effective set design. The set designed by Katie Sykes engaged the audience with its creative projection of frustrations, communication, thoughts and showing the characters developments throughout the performance. Also, the costumes helped you to easily identify characters before they spoke or interacted on stage and gave a clear message of who they were as a character.

With some fun and original music by Benji Bower to accompany this magical piece of theatre and tie it all together, Wonder Boy was a fantastic and thought provoking evening.

The only criticism I would have, which also is a positive in the sense that I was invested so much in every character on the stage, I wish some of the characters endings would have been tied up along with the main character of Sonny. I was intrigued to finish their stories. Which again is to the credit of the performers.

Reviewer: Stephanie Wiswall

Reviewed: 25th September 2024

North West End UK Rating: