Review: Three’s A Wake by Liam Severn

THREE’S A WAKE was the first in a series of four plays under the banner of Harlow Young Practitioners.

Therefore, we have to calibrate our reviews accordingly. These are young actors, playwrights, directors, making their way in the world and so we review based on good points and then development needs.

We saw Liam Severn’s play This Summer last year and liked a lot of what we saw.

There were also strong points here. Liam can certainly write a good script and there are touches of humour. He can also do empathy in a genuine way.

However, this really needed a helping hand in a number of departments.

Finally, his play last year was full of profanities and so was this. In fact, despite the warning on the Playhouse website, there was absolutely no need for the C-word less than 30 seconds into the play,

This was quite well acted by Liam. He was joined by another actor but there was no programme and so we don’t know her name. She was a a good actress but for the most part we couldn’t hear a thing as she spoke so quietly.

However, her monologues on the death of her mother and the struggle bringing up her child were very authentic.

Not so sure about Liam’s globetrotting mega rich character. He looked more like he was working part time at Primark.

And there’s the rub. We didn’t believe his character and we didn’t like his character and we didn’t care for his character.

In many ways, it felt that they were way out of their depth on the subject matter.

The best bit was the version of Piano Man

This really needed a proper director.

But please, come back next year and reach out to others for help. There is a lot of potential here.

Review: Harlow Community Arts Festival: ‘This Summer’ by Severn Wonders Productions