LondonTheatre1

London Theatre: Tickets Reviews | News | West End | Off-West End | UK Touring Productions

View All Shows Booking Now
  • Home
  • Top Selling Shows
    • Musicals
    • Plays
      • A Christmas Carol
      • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
      • The Mousetrap
      • The Woman in Black
      • Witness for the Prosecution
    • & Juliet
    • Back To The Future
    • Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
    • Come From Away
    • Dirty Dancing
    • Frozen The Musical
    • Heathers
    • Jersey Boys
    • Les Misérables
    • Mamma Mia
    • Matilda the Musical
    • My Fair Lady
    • Moulin Rouge
    • Only Fools and Horses
    • Pretty Woman the Musical
    • The Book of Mormon
    • The Drifters Girl
    • The Lion King
    • The Phantom of the Opera
    • Tina the Musical
    • Wicked
    • London Theatres
      • Seating Plans
      • Adelphi Theatre
      • Ambassadors Theatre
      • Apollo Theatre
      • Duke of York’s Theatre
      • Fortune Theatre
      • Gillian Lynne Theatre
      • Harold Pinter Theatre
      • Lyceum Theatre
      • New Wimbledon Theatre
      • New Wimbledon Theatre Studio
      • Piccadilly Theatre
      • Richmond Theatre
      • Savoy Theatre
      • Trafalgar Theatre
  • News
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • UK Shows
    • Alexandra Theatre
    • Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
    • Brighton Theatre Royal
    • Bristol Hippodrome
      • Bristol Theatre Seating Plan
    • Edinburgh Playhouse
    • Glasgow Theatre Royal
    • Grand Opera House York
    • King’s Theatre Glasgow
    • Kit Kat Club London
    • Leas Cliff Hall
    • Liverpool Empire
    • Manchester Opera House
    • Manchester Palace Theatre
    • Milton Keynes Theatre
    • New Theatre Oxford
    • New Victoria Theatre Woking
    • New Wimbledon Theatre
    • New Wimbledon Theatre Studio
    • Princess Theatre Torquay
    • Regent Theatre Stoke
    • Rhoda McGaw Theatre
    • Richmond Theatre
    • Stockton Globe
    • Sunderland Empire
    • Swansea Arena
    • Victoria Hall Hanley Stoke
  • Dancewear
  • Newsletter
Home » Reviews » Have I None at the Etcetera Theatre | Review

Have I None at the Etcetera Theatre | Review

May 1, 2019 Last updated: May 8, 2019 6:11 pm By Mary Beer

Brad Leigh as Grit, Emily Wickham as Sara.
Brad Leigh as Grit, Emily Wickham as Sara.

Edward Bond’s Have I None is an ideal choice for London pub theatre and the spring of 2019 is optimal timing for a revival of this haunting 2000 one-act play.

Anyone with an interest in the rich tradition of British political theatre (from David Edgar to Caryl Churchill to Lucy Prebble), or in theatre history more generally, needs to spend some time with the works of Edward Bond. Four Points Theatre’s production at Camden’s Etcetera Theatre (over the Oxford Arms) is an excellent entree to the author and the genre if you’re not yet familiar with it. For established fans of this type of theatre, Lewis Frost’s revival is a short, satisfying and intense burst of drama, lasting only about an hour, that will give you plenty to talk about over drinks or dinner afterwards.

At 84 years of age, Bond is both a giant of British theatre and somewhat of an outcast from the establishment due to his uncompromising and undiplomatic nature. Unlike many other playwrights who wish only to express their ideas via their performance texts, Bond famously introduces his plays with prose essays. It is a great treat that Bond has authored an original introduction to this production – and with equal measures of sharpness and lyricism, he pulls no punches. ‘All fascism ends in defeat and suicide. It’s the logic of the situation – and on a massive scale, it’s the logic of reality… When I wrote this play I did not foresee Brexit. Drama did: that is the logic of reality.’

As a rule, this critic avoids directly Brexit-themed productions because it is too painful and exhausting. I did not need to apply that rule to Have I None because the play is a dystopian domestic drama about the intersection between pettiness and nihilism. It is visceral, funny and thoroughly theatrical. Not a topical reference or a sermon within a mile.

Lewis Frost’s production reveals himself as an actor’s director. He has assembled an excellent cast and rightly made them the focus of the piece. In the simplest of black box spaces with the most basic of lighting design and no sound design other than the noises made by actors, he manages to make even two chairs and a table almost feel like ‘too much’ scenery in the sparse and standardised ‘re-settled’ world of 2077.

Terrified and tense, we meet Sara (Emily Wickham) in what at first appears to be a traditional kitchen-sink story about an isolated housewife plagued by demons, which we are not sure are real or imagined. As her husband Jams (Ben Jacobson) arrives home we very quickly discover we are in a brutal, authoritarian world where ‘the past is forbidden’ and mass suicide comes in ‘outbreaks’ described with clinical fear but no empathy. The action intensifies with the unexpected arrival of Grit (Brad Leigh) who identifies himself as Sara’s brother having walked for days to reach his sister from the outer reaches of the country that is experiencing a grim outbreak of self-harm. Not sure who or what to trust, a plot is hatched; we wonder if it is one of cruelty or compassion.

All members of the cast are able and dedicated performers. Brad Leigh is especially compelling as the outsider in the chilling dyad of Sara and Jams’ marriage. The performances are physical, visceral and committed.

This is a strong production with a talented cast of a compelling play and, for pub theatre, amongst the best of its type. Have I None is a welcome addition to this season’s artistic zeitgeist as London also celebrates a Pinter festival in the West End and Churchill’s Top Girls at the National. On until 4th May, it is a shame this show doesn’t have a slightly longer run because I sense the pacing and emotional variation will find more rhythm as the production beds in. Frost and lighting technician, Charlotte Brown, may want to re-visit some of the cues that change mood and underpin drama, especially as this production relies on them exclusively without a score or scenic effects to alter mood or location. Nonetheless, Have I None is short, sharp and fundamentally gripping – it is well worth seeing.

4 stars

Review by Mary Beer

Have I None is both frenetically comic and deadly serious. Written by Edward Bond and directed by Lewis Frost,
Have I None resonates ever more strongly with the consequences of our current political choices. It is 2077 and the past has been abolished. Frenzied mass consumerism has been replaced by standard-issue houses, furniture and food. The old cities lie in ruins and the people have been resettled. Sara (Emily Wickham) is unhappily married to Jams (Ben Jacobson), who works for the security services, but when a man (Brad Leigh) turns up at their door claiming to be her brother and holding a photograph of two children, Sara’s memory stirs.

Have I None
30th April to 4th May 2019
Etcetera Theatre
265 Camden High Street
(above the Oxford Arms)
Camden, London NW1 7BU
http://www.etceteratheatre.com/

Tagged With: EtceteraTheatre

Avatar for Mary Beer

About Mary Beer

Mary graduated with a cum laude degree in Theatre from Columbia University’s Barnard College in New York City. In addition to directing and stage managing several productions off-Broadway, Mary was awarded the Helen Prince Memorial Prize in Dramatic Composition for her play Subway Fare whilst in New York. Relocating to London, Mary has worked in the creative sector, mostly in television broadcast and production, since 1998. Her creative and strategic abilities in TV promotion, marketing and design have been recognised with over 20 industry awards including several Global Promax Golds. She is a founder member of multiple creative industry and arts organisations and has frequently served as an advisor to the Edinburgh International TV Festival.

Search for Tickets

Latest News & Reviews

Charlie and Stan at Wilton’s Music Hall

January 25, 2023 By Alan Fitter Leave a Comment

It seems very apt that the story of two English music hall performers, Charlie Chaplin and Stan … [Read More...]

Othello: A Frantic Assembly production, co-produced with Curve

January 25, 2023 By Louis Mazzini Leave a Comment

Like The Merchant of Venice, with its profound antisemitism, and the misogynistic Taming of the … [Read More...]

West End transfer of Rose, starring Maureen Lipman

January 25, 2023 By Admin Leave a Comment

After sell-out runs at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester, and The Park Theatre, London, in 2022, Maureen … [Read More...]

London Theatre 1 and London Theatre One are Registered Trademarks Copyright 2023 www.LondonTheatre1.com
By using our website you’re confirming that you’re happy to accept our use of cookies.
Privacy Policy & Cookies - Advertising - About Us - Newsletter - Contact Us

As an Amazon Associate our website receives a commission from qualifying purchases from Amazon.