Affluenza at Riverside Studios, London Review
Noah Schnapp (Dylan) in 'Affluenza' at Riverside Studios. Photo credit Danny Kaan.
On paper, Affluenza by Adam Sandberg sounds like an interesting concept for a play. Someone seemingly getting off with a crime due to their privilege. I’m sure we can all think of examples of seeing this happen, whether in our personal lives or high-profile cases.
Things are promising to start with. We’re transported to a fancy house in the USA, home to Dylan (Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp) and his parents. Dylan is upstairs happily playing video games, despite his parents downstairs fighting it out with a lawyer over Dylan drink-driving and killing several people. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only car crash that we are faced with. What follows is a confused production, starting with a glimmer of promise only to let us down.
Introducing the idea of arguing ‘affluenza’, effectively the concept of someone not knowing right from wrong due to a privileged and out-of-touch upbringing, in the impending court case certainly made my ears perk up. This could get juicy; no doubt we’re about to enter a courtroom for some real drama? Within the blink of an eye, we’re told the court case is over without us seeing any of the action. This is really disappointing, and could have made for brilliantly energetic viewing.
Act Two doesn’t get any better. Maybe we’ll see some justice finally being sought for Dylan’s victims? An insight into the impact on surviving family members or those left disabled in the crash? Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. We’ve moved forward a decade or two with Dylan (now played by Rupert Young, previously playing the lawyer), an almost divorced father of teenage Todd (now played by Noah Schnapp), on the set of a reality TV show. Dylan has reached some level of fame, cashing in on him being let off due to pleading ‘affluenza’. To be fair to him, Schnapp plays a good angsty teenager. Gone is Will Byers’ bowl cut, introducing a scruffy beanie and what I believe was a smidge of eyeliner. There were few laugh-out-loud moments, and some odd ones – a cameraman breaking into a lip sync performance with some random dry ice, anyone? It’s simply jarring and downright weird.
Schnapp is the big name here, undoubtedly cast to pull in to sell those tickets, not too unlike his Stranger Things co-stars Sadie Sink and Gaten Matarazzo in Romeo and Juliet and Rent, respectively. You’d have expected Schnapp to play a bigger part; however, he is more of a supporting character in Affluenza. Strictly Come Dancing’s Janette Manrara flits between several roles, and is quite fun to watch. The whole cast really do their best with what they’ve got.
I’ve no doubt this will attract Stranger Things and Strictly Come Dancing fans, wanting to see Schnapp and Manrara on stage. This is fair enough; however, they shouldn’t go in expecting a punchy legal drama with a satisfying conclusion, justice sought and won. There are the makings of an exciting production in there, but sadly it never bubbles to the surface.
Affluenza plays at Riverside Studios until 28th November 2026.
★
Written by Bronagh for Theatre and Tonic, October 2026.
