Death of England, a decade in the making, its run at the National Theatre curtailed and cancelled by the COVID-19 epidemic, finally arrives in the West End.
Death of England is the collective title for three state-of-the-nation one-act plays by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams: Death of England: Michael, Death of England: Delroy and Death of England: Closing Time.
Each play can stand alone, but all three are interlinked and can be seen in any order. The proximity of the in-the round auditorium and the audience makes @sohoplace the ideal venue for it.
Death of England are memory plays, not monologues. They deal with race, identity, nationalism and class, asking what it means to be British?
The trilogy is excellently directed by Clint Dyer on a raised St George Cross platform and the ground area around it. The set is by Sedeysa Greenaway-Bailey and Ultz.
Michael and Delroy are solo narrators re-enacting the past and the present. Thomas Coombes is Michael, white working-class, full of bile and alcohol, rages at the funeral of his racist dad, a flower stall seller. Paapa Essiedu is Delroy, a black working-class bailiff, arrested by the police and wearing a tag. He races to get to the hospital where his girlfriend (Michael’s sister) is giving birth.
The challenge for both actors is enormous and exhausting. Their body and facial language, allow them seamlessly and instantly to change character and engage with other people. Particularly effective is Michael’s encounter with a courteous elderly Asian who, to his utter amazement, was his dad’s friend.
Coombes and Essiedu, wound-up and restless, also interact with the audience, often ad-libbing. Their stamina is amazing. A little less shouting and some editing of the text would be welcome. The performances, vocally and physically, are tours de forces.
Michael and Delroy can be seen now. Closing Time opens on 22 August.
To learn more about Robert Tanitch and his reviews, click here to go to his website. 
