STRAND REUPLOAD : A New Favourite Play in the Making - Reviewing 'Wonderboy' at Bristol Old Vic

Now stretching into the Autumn season and my second STRAND review of 'Wonderboy'. A show that would go on to have more of a meaning to myself than anything else I've seen in so long:

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

“That was the moment I knew he would be okay. Fly to the moon Wonder Boy.”

And indeed, he flew to Bristol Old Vic, where a cast of five dazzled audiences in a short but spell-bounding production of under 100 minutes of hope and self discovery.

Content Warning
This play goes through many themes of mental health, parental death and panic attacks

​Wonder Boy tells the story of Sonny (Hilson Agbangbe), as he enters a fresh school due to a new foster placement. Not only is he dealing with this unnervingly new environment in Year 8, but he also struggles with a stammer – something that he is ashamed to admit. As a result, he tries to stay silent when he has to speak, but this situation is made worse when he is ordered to participate in the school’s production of Hamlet. It’s up to Deputy Head Wainwright (Eva Scott) and best friend Roshi (Naia Elliott-Spence) to keep him under control and build his confidence while Captain Chatter (Ciaran O'Breen) cautiously tires to hinder any progress and keep everything the same. It's an entertaining tug of war throughout

When you step foot into the auditorium, the simple backdrop is revealed with steps leading up to an onstage exit, and two small platforms at the front bring the story to life. The show is complete with innovative captioning on the back wall for the pre-show announcements as well as the show itself. As the story mixes English and British Sign Language, it helps the audience understand the story better. The different fonts and colours (and sometimes shocked Pikachu's) used for different characters and their emotions is a really interesting detail that I particularly enjoyed.

I first found out about this show on my clearing day for the University of Wolverhampton back in August while speaking to one of the department heads about my passion for theatre and accessibility - I was applying for the BA in British Sign Language interpreting. He asked if I had checked out the Grand, and this show popped up. This was everything I had wanted in a show and I knew I had to go see it. I managed to get the press tickets to review it for the STRAND (thanks Liz!) and when I found out the day I was going to watch it, my jaw almost fell onto the floor.

​The day I saw this production was my final day of my full time job after being accepted into University so going into the performance, it had so much more meaning than I could have ever imagined.

The play is full of laughs and equally poignant moments, especially within the blossoming connection that Sonny and Wainwright share as they get to know each other more in their development sessions which go from Sonny and Wainwright's idea of hell and only there to please head teacher Miss Fish to both of them becoming more relaxed around each other as they start open up about revelations that have never been articulated out loud before.

Over time, they come to realise that they are more alike than they initially expect.

Head teacher Miss Fish and Wainwright's play fight towards the end of the show definitely elicited guffaws, whilst another moment to remember was the dangerously close destruction of a LEGO Millennium Falcon (as a Lego fan myself, I had to hold my breath at a fair few close calls!).​

Towards the resolution of the show, there was only one story-related question I had – which was to do with the abrupt and unexplained ending of Wainwright's arc. We didn’t get the proper closure we needed for a brilliant, hopeful duo that we spent 80% of the show rooting for.

​A few amazingly funny instances to point out are Roshi’s amazing description of Hamlet: as someone who hasn’t seen a production of it besides the obvious “to be or not to be” monologue, I got to understand this Shakespearean classic so much more.

Shakespeare himself appears several times in the show with a bit of a panto inspired sketch when he asks what everyone's favourite Shakespeare play was and I shouted "CYMBELINE!" - the first play the came into my brain - Eva (Shakespeare) almost burst out laughing forgetting themself that was a play!

​There is a silver lining, though, in the form of a really poignant finale as we see the moment when Sonny goes up on stage and foam letters are placed on the stage, spelling the line he has to say... but is he able to do it? See the play on tour near you and find out!
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Ultimately, while I do have very very small nit picks with Wonder Boy, it is easily one of my favourite shows I’ve seen this year. If I could give plays half-stars in my ratings, this would be a very easy 4.5 stars.

As the play goes on, we know more about Sonny himself and why he ended up in the system in the first place, the mental health deterioration of his mother and his father nowhere to be seen made some of the flashbacks tear jerkers and Jessica Murrain brings two very different sides of her performances into the show as she also plays the role of horrible head teacher Miss Fish. Her ability to do this is incredible but the first time you see her you only see Fish and until you realise whats going on some of the hatred drops for Fish, knowing who else she plays. A role combination that I personally think should have been seperate but I still really enjoyed watching this perspective.