Writer: Neil LaBute
Director: James Haddrell
In an intriguing twin venue experiment, the Greenwich Theatre and the King’s Head Theatre have joined forces to present a programme of short plays by Neil LaBute, compiled under the title America the Beautiful. And the irony lies thick on this phrase.
The first three plays, sub-titled Chapter One, plays at the King’s Head Theatre until 14th March, with a second set opening at the same venue running until 21st March, and the third Chapter opening in Greenwich on 31st March. The labels Chapter 1, 2, 3, indicate a degree of cohesion that is not entirely evident in the first set – these are three short plays about things happening in the USA, uncomfortable things, but not in any way intersecting. Apart from all three being quite bleak.
First off, the cast of four is excellent, particularly Borris Anthony York who appears twice. The design is neat and workmanlike, a set of grey painted blocks that are positioned as seats and tables and backdrops as required, the actors called into service as ASMs between the playlets. Well managed, efficient, seamless. What follows is three quite nasty little plays.
The first, Hate Crime, is a noirish murder plot hatched by a very unsympathetic couple and targeting an elderly gay man. The death will be viewed as a hate crime and possibly less diligently investigated as a consequence. The twist is that the would-be perpetrators are a gay couple, which possibly introduces the notion that being gay doesn’t necessarily make anyone virtuous or nice. LaBute writes spare, realistic dialogue and makes the characters lively and recognisable, and his text is very well served by Borris Anthony York and Liam Jedele.
The second playlet, Kandahar, is a monologue by York, playing a serviceman returned from Afghanistan full of PTSD and a hunger for revenge. He presents his account of his crime to a tribunal. York makes the soldier as sympathetic as possible, and invests his performance with power and depth. It is probably the pick of the three plays, and possibly the hardest to watch.
The final play, The Possible, details the unusual methods employed by one young woman to seduce another young woman. Again, the two actors, Anna Maria and Maya-Nina Bewley, give full-on committed performances and animate a well-wrought script. The hesitant, meandering engagement of the two characters is elegantly accomplished, the two actors taking sensitive direction from James Haddrell.
These three half-hour plays seem to be linked mainly by the notion that the United States is full of immoral, duplicitous people with access to guns. It isn’t an uplifting evening’s entertainment, but it is extremely well executed. And LaBute writes about horrible people really well.
Runs until 14 March 2026
