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I’ve been putting off reviewing Zach Braff’s debut play All New People for a week now, scared to put into words just how underwhelmed it made me feel. All New People is a single act play set in a beach house in the middle of winter on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Charlie (Zach Braff) is taking advantage of the isolation in order to commit suicide but is interrupted by an English real estate agent (Eve Myles), a drug dealing fireman (Paul Hilton) and a high-class prostitute (Susannah Fielding).

From this set-up the four characters spend ninety minutes discussing life, the universe, and everything as they try to convince Charlie that life is worth living whilst revealing their own tragic backstories. Each character is given a brief filmed flashback, projected onto the stage, which shows a shocking event from their past. Sadly these felt a little unnecessary as details came out in dialogue later on and seeing recognisable British actors like Amanda Redman doing their best American drawl took me out of the play.

On the whole the acting was without fault, Braff in particular should be commended for not giving himself the spotlight the entire time; he did write the play after all. Instead Braff made the most of his rants and ensured that even when in the background he was subtly drawing attention his way. Eve Myles (of Torchwood fame) was better than I had expected but got off to a rough start as her attempts at “wacky comedy” came off as a little try-hard.

Sadly the play as a whole didn’t really hold together well. The four characters all seemed to have been designed to be as quirky as possible, the backstories we were waiting to discover were of little consequence when they were revealed. Myles’ character in particular had such a bizarre history that felt wholly out of place in the play, and considering the subject matter involved (which I will avoid mentioning) felt a little cheap and crass when mentioned in such a passing manner.

All New People‘s worst crime is being easily forgettable and inconsequential, sorry Zach. All New People is on at the Duke of York’s Theatre until 28th April and tickets are available online but your money would be much better spent buying Garden State on DVD.

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Zach Braff has something he’d like to say to you:

The dead of winter, Long Beach Island, New Jersey, Charlie (Zach Braff), has hit rock bottom. Away from the rest of the world, this perfect escape is interrupted by a motley parade of misfits who show up and change his plans. A hired beauty, a fireman, and an eccentric British real estate agent desperately trying to stay in the country all suddenly find themselves tangled together in a beach house where the mood is anything but sunny.

In summary, Zach Braff has written a play called All New People which opens at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London on 22 February 2012, after brief visits to Glasgow and Manchester. For anyone who was of an impressionable age when they first saw Garden State, and it being their first taste of independent cinema became a bit obsessed and downloaded a lot of music by The Shins, this is an exciting opportunity to see Zach Braff perform his own writing again.

Sadly no Natalie Portman this time round, instead we get Eve Myles from Torchwood.

Buy tickets here, if you want. No pressure.

Any Scots reading, Mr Braff has a special message just for you:

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Excuse me while I try to talk about theatre…

Inadmissible Evidence is a 1964 play written by John Osborne in which William Maitland plays an alcoholic, womanising solicitor who puts himself on a metaphorical trial for his failed life and sordid behaviour. Normally performed as a drama, for obvious reasons, but the Donmar production directed by Jamie Lloyd instead presents the play as more of a comedy; Douglas Hodge in the lead role brings a huge amount of energy and humour to the stage, contorting his face and throwing his body around.

In the first act Maitland is full of fun, tormenting his staff and avoiding calls from his wife and mistress. After the interval the tone shifts to one of despair as the people he has surrounded himself with start to desert him and Hodge is given the opportunity to show the full range of emotions. In true theatrical style there are monologues galore; Al Weaver performs a moving speech as a gay man refusing to deny his sexuality and Serena Evans plays a series of women suffering at the hands of their husbands. Born from such a vibrant beginning the dark and dramatic conclusion to the play is all the more effective.

Karen Gillan, surely a huge draw after her role in Doctor Who (I admit to nothing), plays a small but key role very well in her theatre debut. It was hard to keep my eyes off her even when she wasn’t directly on-stage, made possible by some clever staging allowing “off-stage” actors to be visible through frosted glass in the back office. The Donmar Warehouse certainly knows how to put together a good set. With such a small auditorium, the stage felt less like a solicitor’s office built in a theatre but more a theatre built around a solicitor’s office. The whole stage was wonderfully grimy and cluttered.

Daniel Ryan was solid as Maitland’s right hand man whose loyalty is slipping, as was Amy Morgan as the fun new secretary willing to put up with Maitland’s lecherous advances. The real star of course is Douglas Hodge, the poor man never leaves the stage and gives the role such energy and charm it’s a wonder he manages 8 shows a week.

If theatre, cinema and TV are good for anything it is to make you feel something, and Inadmissible Evidence built me up and knocked me down. Well worth the reasonable-for-theatre ticket price.

Inadmissible Evidence is playing at the Donmar Warehouse until 26th November 2011.

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Today I am shining the spotlight on an old film and the recent revival of the play it was based on, John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation, and Kevin Bacon isn’t going to be mentioned once. It is about to get cultured up in here.
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