Theo in Between (British Youth Music Theatre) at Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds Review
Written by Joseph for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Theo in Between is a new musical, with music and lyrics by Jordan Li-Smith and Book & Lyrics by Gareth Mattey, making its debut with British Youth Music Theatre. Set in 1999, in the fictional town of Dulberry, it's a coming of age story that follows Theo, who doesn't feel that he fits in anywhere.
The show was a bit all over the place, with many different storylines, some of which seem to serve little purpose, like an unnecessary side plot about the stealing of absinthe, which was particularly jarring.
It's worth noting that this show was advertised as 90 minutes with no interval. Not a problem, however, when it clocks in at almost 2 hours with no interval, it becomes a challenge. I couldn't see the advantage of having no interval; just to give us a break to appreciate the show would be helpful. All that it did was show us where the show needs to slim down, even if only for time reasons.
The opening sequence, where it shows the time passing from 1988 to 1999 for seemingly no reason, would be a start. It felt like a song had been written, and they wanted to use it, without a clear look at how or why?
The first act is nice, if a little drawn out. With nice themes about bucking tradition and forging your own path. The issue is that by the time the story gets going, they don't really have that much time for what you're really here for, the in between. This means that the final third of the show is rushed and a little heavy-handed. A lot of the dialogue is spoon-fed morality around gender identity and what it means to be a man. As someone who is LGBTQ+ myself, and has a trans daughter, I am always happy to see new work that is pro queer, however, it would do better to have a little more nuance. Some very on-the-nose dialogue, especially in a very brief moment with Theo's Dad, is one particular place that could do with more development.
The performances in general are good. The chorus, when working together, are polished. Stand out performances from Theo and his Mum, who shine in this; their vocal and acting ability is clear to see. A couple of singing American accents elsewhere, which is a personal bugbear when it’s clearly not set in the US, and a couple of dodgy accents do crop up from time to time, which should be dealt with in future iterations, as it does distract from the rest of the show.
The music is what really shines throughout. It is definitely the most developed element of the show and is of West End quality. The arrangements are well put together and perfect in tone, aside from a very strange Harvest Festival sequence that made me feel like I'd fallen into The Wicker Man.
Overall, I'm not sure what Theo in Between was trying to achieve; was it a slapstick comedy with over the top performances, or was it a gentle exploration into the often confusing waters of gender identity? What is clear is that the bones of a great idea are there, it just needs some more careful development to truly grow into whatever show it is deep down.
Theo in Between plays at Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds until 23 August.
★ ★ ★
