Southwark Playhouse Elephant
Playing until 23rd November 2024
Photo credit: Craig Fuller
Review {AD-PR Gifted}
Following the journey and growth of a young aspiring writer, Malia (Robyn Rose-Li), Fly more than you fall is a story of love, loss and learning to cope with change. Malia’s life is thrown into chaos when her mother is diagnosed with end stage cancer. Despite the support system that has been built up around her, Malia must pilot her way through a storm of emotions.
Malia is encouraged to pursue her interest in writing by her loving mother, Jennifer (Keala Settle), and father, Paul (Cavin Cornwall), who would do anything for his family. The opening number and the title of the story being written by Malia, “Fly more than you fall”, is a showcase of Malia’s innocence and how supportive her family is towards her ambitions. It tells the story of a bird, Willow (Maddison Bulleyment), on a journey to ever greater heights despite the fact that it cannot fly. There is a sense of naivety in this story, and she is mocked by her writing campmates.
The talents of the cast are phenomenal, carrying the emotions with each word and delivering the songs with immense sensitivity. Settle, Rose-Li and Bulleyment in particular, have some of the most impressive vocals in this production, shattering the ceiling as their voices soared.
However, despite a strong opening and premise of the story, the narratives and character development failed to reach their full potential. The various metaphors related to seeking out the unknown and navigate your life through uncertainty is used repeatedly throughout the show, most of which reflected in Willow’s story as Malia attempts to continue her writing. Given that the audience is witnessing Malia’s life events, the subsequent (or on occasions) parallel story featuring Willow seem like a duplication to a degree and not entirely clear as to what these add to the overall narrative as most of these are unsubstantiated metaphors or clichés.
Eric Holmes’s script makes it difficult to sympathise with Malia and what she goes through. From the very start, she has received endless support from a range of characters, such as her boyfriend (Kieran Usher) and Caleb (Max Gill), a senior she met at writing camp. These two constantly try to reach out to Malia, but are consistently turned away. When Malia lost her calm and makes a horrendous remark about her father in Act II, that was the last nail in the coffin, which in my opinion, effectively turned this initially naïve and innocent character into one that is selfish and lacks appreciation of others’ sufferings.
In addition to the rather excess repetitiveness of metaphors, some of the characterisations also feel out of place. For example, when Malia was heading out to see her boyfriend and Caleb for a pizza in order to escape from all the doom and gloom in the house, she was stopped and guilt tripped into watching a movie with her mum. However, given how excited she was about leaving the house and her frustration with her parents, it was not believable that she would give in that easily and just be happy to stay in and forget about her plans with her friends.
Despite the weaknesses in the script and some of the staging, the costumes designed by Stewart J Charlesworth bring a level of freshness to the characters, they are sporty and colourful in Act I and then black and white for the opening of Act II. The colour of costumes create a stark contrast between Malia and her dad, who remained in darker clothing while the rest of characters changed back into their more colourful clothes. To note, whether intentional or not, Willow and Flynn (Edward Chitticks), the other bird featured in Malia’s written work, resemble that of a Pokemon trainer in Pokemon Go. Given that the two birds are climbing up a tall mountain, perhaps it is fitting that they don these outfits.
Despite a strong opening, and successfully setting the scene of a heart-warming story, Fly more than you fall is hindered by a underdeveloped narrative and a central character that is difficult to sympathise or empathise with. Even with the incredible talents assembled, the plot and characters struggle to engage with the audience at a deep emotional level.
Creatives
Book and Lyrics: Eric Holmes
Music and Lyrics: Nat Zegree
Director: Christian Durham
Musical Director: Arlene McNaught
Orchestrations and Arranger: Daniel Edmonds
Movement Director: Heather Douglas
Lighting Designer: Jack Weir
Set and Costume Designer: Stewart J Charlesworth
Sound Designer: Sam Vincent
Lead Producer: Marc David Levine
Executive Producer and General Manager: James Steel
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