THEATRE REVIEW: A Very Expensive Poison ★★★★★

A Very Expensive Poison
The Old Vic, London
Tuesday 20th August - Saturday 5th October 2019

There’s a moment in the climax of Act One in Lucy Prebble’s new play, A Very Expensive Poison, where Reece Shearsmith steps forward, breaks the fourth wall whilst remaining in character as The President, and addresses to the audience a passage that will race through my mind for years to come. It also must be one of the most powerfully driven, heart wrenching monologues from what is already an undoubtedly stunning piece of theatre, one remisinate of Angels in America Part Two, and 1984, in a way that would only spoil if delving into more detail, for this is a production which must be seen live with little prior knowledge.

Based on Luke Harding’s book of the same Title, the story centres around the real-life assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, portrayed in such a fashion from Tom Brooke, and in this production is told mostly through the eyes of his wife, Marina Litvinenko (Myanna Buring). Brooke and Buring share an incredibly natural stage presence with each other, as their counterparts tale is unravelled in front of our eyes. The whole ensemble do an exceptional job of keeping the action and Lucy’s retelling respectful, but not without having a bit of fun which goes down brilliantly with the audience; a moment in an airport at the start of Act Two is not only clever but hugely successful due to the brilliant casting of Michael Shaeffer and Llyod Hutchinson.

Tom Scutt has designed what can only be described as a masterful piece of set which complements the staging and subject matter beautifully. It’s astonishing at times to understand how Scutt’s brain has worked to present numerous settings in one notion, but most impressively do so in such a short space of time on stage between scenes, and when brought to life by Mimi Jordan Sherin’s Lighting design, everything truly comes to the forefront, with a trailblazing creative team behind a politically, and punching script delivered by Prebble. The way that we as an audience are almost on the same page as the detectives on stage, figuring out who poisoned Litvinenko, it’s truly thrilling and exciting, until the moment a letter is read out at the climax of the production, which was a real-life account from Alexander in the last dying days of his life, that will leave you with a lump in your throat, or a tear streaming day your face.

Overall, A Very Expensive Poison is politically powerful, driven and harrowing real-life story which must be seen to even just pay respect to the torment of those who lost their lives from the tragic events. Lucy Prebble has herself been awarded the 2019 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award on behalf of the production, and after viewing, it’s undoubtable as to how far she can go in the future!