The musical Flyby benefits from having a highly talented and hard-working cast of five, as well as an imaginative set design by Libby Todd, lighting by Ben Jacobs and only occasionally too overwhelming sound design by Kelsh Buckman-Drage, even if the videos, created by Adam Lenson are often impossible to assimilate because there is so much information he tries to give: one finds that before there is time to read them, they are whisked off to be replaced by something else that needs close attention, but in its turn it also disappears far too quickly. At least these same videos ensure the audience has to work hard throughout the 105-minute running time in order to understand what is going on, until they perhaps eventually do not care!
Stuart Thompson as Daniel Defoe expends much energy in getting as much as possible from his shallowly written role of an astronaut unceremoniously dumped by his long-term girlfriend, Emily Baker (Poppy Gilbert). What he is given to say is verbose, and the show often seems to be going around in circles rather than moving forward. None of this is Thompson’s fault: he is as believable as the writing allows him to be and, luckily, achieves tremendous pace in much of what he does, almost convincing us that what he has to say is actually worth saying! He has an attractive singing voice and knows instinctively how to put over a song, but the lyrics are too often trite and repetitive, as if the music has been written first and the lyrics mangled to fit!
Poppy Gilbert also works extremely hard in attempting to create a believable role, but has obviously been told to shout many of her lines: in fact, there are scenes towards the middle of the show which are just shouted arguments – and we all stop listening very quickly whenever anyone shouts at us! There are other ways of having arguments: continually shouting is not the way to build tension towards a climax – and I wonder, as a former drama teacher, how many times I have instilled that into my students. Gilbert’s dialogue is very often enunciated at great speed, and it is to her great credit as an actor that, like Thompson, she almost convinces us that the playwright has been successful in giving her a role with motivation. She also has a most attractive singing voice, but is yet again hampered by clumsy lyrics.
The other three actors, Rupert Young, Gina Beck, and Simbi Akande, seem grossly underused as a sort of ‘Greek Chorus’ just commenting either in song or speech on the action, and occasionally playing minor roles. For example, Young is asked to open the show in the guise of a representative of the European Space Agency (or similar!), explaining the backstory of what we are about to see. He does this very well indeed: it is not his fault that this opening monologue is far too long – it seems about ten minutes but probably isn’t – and is far too complex for us to take in! In fact, I wondered whether or not the show was actually a musical for some time!
Theo Jamieson is not only the writer of the show, but he has also composed the music, some of which, taken out of context, is very attractive, but much of it does not seem to lend itself to having lyrics set to it. Most seems slow and the few quicker sections stand out as beacons of light, but there are not enough of them. The composer has also orchestrated his music for two violins, cello, and double-bass, plus two keyboards: not a guitar or drum kit in sight and the style of his music suits this orchestration. For much of the show, we can actually see the players sitting above the stage, lit, so that we can see them playing. This is one of the better ideas of Adam Lenson’s direction, and means that, visually, the show is nearly always interesting when music is being played.
Otherwise, Lenson, as with the actors, realises that this is a very ‘wordy’ piece of theatre and needs tremendous pace to keep it going. Even so, pruning of the length of the show to about seventy-five minutes, omitting much of the dialogue, would help. Like many plays and musicals from inexperienced writers, Flyby does not seem to know when to end, and when it does, its denouement seems rather contrived: obvious is perhaps a better word.
Flyby, having been workshopped in 2025 by the National Theatre, is presumably still a work in progress, and there is much work to do. However, performances are very strong and worth seeing if you have 105 minutes to spare!
Review by John Groves
When astronaut Daniel steals a spacecraft and vanishes into space, he leaves behind Emily – a fiercely intelligent documentary film maker – and their complicated past. Through flashbacks and space logs, this captivating new musical answers why he left.
Poppy Gilbert – Emily Baker
Stuart Thompson – Daniel Defoe
Rupert Young – Jonathan Jay
Gina Beck – Amy Greenwood
Simbi Akande – Grace Adams
Theo Jamieson – Writer and Composer
Adam Lenson – Co-creator and Director
Ben Jacobs – Lighting Designer
Libby Todd – Set Designer
Kelsh Buckman-Drage – Sound Designer
Eleanor Bull – Costume Designer
Ben Kubiak – Musical Director
FLYBY
Southwark Playhouse Borough
3 April to 16 May 2026
