The Lift. Southwark Playhouse.

Southwark Playhouse’s revival of Craig Adams and Ian Watson’s 2012 musical, The Lift, makes for an enjoyable if sometimes puzzling 90-minutes.

18 May 2022

I am beginning to wonder whether my brain gets a little fried on entering the welcoming doors of the Southwark Playhouse. That is because The Lift, although entertaining enough in its way, is the venue’s second musical in a row in which I have struggled to understand what on earth is going on. I am willing to acknowledge this may be me, rather than the musicals in question.

I mention my comprehension struggles in order to add the necessary rider to the following outline of the show’s synopsis – it is based on what I think was happening, rather than what may actually have been happening.

Gabriel, played with charisma by songwriter and former street musician, Luke Friend, finds himself in a lift in Covent Garden tube station. He is rather down in the dumps, having just been dumped by his girlfriend, Sarah, so guitar in hand he is heading to his regular busking spot in the hopes of taking his mind off things.

There are seven other people in the lift, and during the minute’s descent Ben hears a couple of snatches of their conversation, which creatively-speaking is quite serendipitous because nobody ever talks in the lifts that I travel in.

Based on these random snippets of strangers’ dialogues, Gabriel’s imagination conjures up a back story that reveals who each of these characters are, and how they (who, confusingly enough, all seem to be called either Gabriel, Sarah, or Kate), relate to each other. By mentally working through the fictional challenges these invented personalities face in their lives and relationships, the busker finds a way of coming to terms with his own break-up angst.

The busker, Gabriel, seems to have a fair amount going on in his unconscious mind, because the characters he dreams up are a fairly fruity bunch.  There is Kate Payne, a secretary secretly in love with her boss. She is not to be confused with Kate (although it could be Sarah) Pain, a dominatrix prostitute, who is secretly in love with her gay best friend, a ballet-dancer also called Gabriel.

The gay best friend, meanwhile, is pretending to be a women and having a virtual affair with Miss Payne’s boss. Bafflingly, the virtual affair is played out by two computer avatars, one of whom doubles as the Sarah who is just dumped the busker, Gabriel.

Did I mention there is also a lesbian schoolteacher who seems to have been sent by her girlfriend, also called Sarah (or perhaps Kate), to visit the dominatrix for some bondage training. Thankfully, she only wants to chat.

Confused? I certainly was.

The songs were nice enough though, particularly the anthemic rock-ballad ‘Lost in Translation’ which, though directed by the school-teacher at her philandering lover, appositely described my feelings towards the show. The other good song, the soaring ‘Octet’, has a repetitive rhetorical lyric: “Do you see a pattern forming?”, to which the facetious answer would be, no.

I suppose the musical’s theme is something along the lines that if you are true to yourself, and honest with those you love, things will work out fine. It is an inclusive, uplifting, and positive message that was brought to life by solid performances all round, and which certainly left the preview audience happy. I just wish I knew what was going on.

Director Dean Johnson

Musical Direction and New Arrangements Sam Young

Choreographer Annie Southall

Production Designer Andrew Exeter

Producer Liam Gartland & Chris Maguire

Cast

Chrissie Bhima

Cameron Collins

Jordan Broatch

Hiba Elchikhe

Luke Friend

Kayleigh McKnight

Tamara Morgan

Marco Titus

Duration: 90-minutes One interval.

Full Disclosure: I paid full box-office price for the ticket.