THEATRE REVIEW: The Honey Man ★★★★
The Honey Man
Birmingham REP Theatre
Birmingham REP Theatre
17th February 2015
From the very beginning of this beautiful production, The Honey Man, written and starring Tyrone Huggins, we are immediately introduced to Misty, a 14 year old girl, who is the daughter of The Manor of the House, where she is being a tour guide to the manor. Through this, the marvellous thought of using us, the audience, as the tour members is a clever device, and used perfectly throughout the piece, especially at the beginning, end of act one, and the end of the play.
In a run down cottage, at the far end of the manor, we see meet The Honey Man, portrayed by Huggins. This loveable character, and his first encounter with Misty, is charged with emotion and energy brought effortlessly together by the two outstanding actors, who really bring the characters from script to life in front of our very eyes. It’s also brilliant because the plot is so focused on these two wonderfully written characters, with only mentions or off-stage conversations with other characters happening limiting the who performance to only focus on this intriguing friendship, which over the course of the performance really brings both characters together, taking all their differences aside.
If there was one thing that I felt unease by with the casting, it would be the knowing that the character of Misty is a 14 year old girl, though Beatrice is clearly much older than this, and just makes me wonder with this point if making Misty just that bit older would effect the script at any point. Apart from this though, the use of projection on the stage was clever and effective, only limiting to the multi-purpose wooden set on stage. I also loved the two bits of Framework that was on stage, one on the floor, Bottom Right, whilst the other was left suspended in the top left. It really gave the feel that as the whole piece was about paintings, it felt that we were viewing our own painting with the help of these set pieces.
Overall then, The Honey Man was Two-Hander masterpiece, with an incredibly strong script, only helped even further with two wonderful actors who both shone on stage, and gave real chemistry, bringing both their character’s life in front of our very eyes.
From the very beginning of this beautiful production, The Honey Man, written and starring Tyrone Huggins, we are immediately introduced to Misty, a 14 year old girl, who is the daughter of The Manor of the House, where she is being a tour guide to the manor. Through this, the marvellous thought of using us, the audience, as the tour members is a clever device, and used perfectly throughout the piece, especially at the beginning, end of act one, and the end of the play.
In a run down cottage, at the far end of the manor, we see meet The Honey Man, portrayed by Huggins. This loveable character, and his first encounter with Misty, is charged with emotion and energy brought effortlessly together by the two outstanding actors, who really bring the characters from script to life in front of our very eyes. It’s also brilliant because the plot is so focused on these two wonderfully written characters, with only mentions or off-stage conversations with other characters happening limiting the who performance to only focus on this intriguing friendship, which over the course of the performance really brings both characters together, taking all their differences aside.
If there was one thing that I felt unease by with the casting, it would be the knowing that the character of Misty is a 14 year old girl, though Beatrice is clearly much older than this, and just makes me wonder with this point if making Misty just that bit older would effect the script at any point. Apart from this though, the use of projection on the stage was clever and effective, only limiting to the multi-purpose wooden set on stage. I also loved the two bits of Framework that was on stage, one on the floor, Bottom Right, whilst the other was left suspended in the top left. It really gave the feel that as the whole piece was about paintings, it felt that we were viewing our own painting with the help of these set pieces.
Overall then, The Honey Man was Two-Hander masterpiece, with an incredibly strong script, only helped even further with two wonderful actors who both shone on stage, and gave real chemistry, bringing both their character’s life in front of our very eyes.
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