BWW Reviews: A THOUSAND STARS EXPLODE IN THE SKY, The Lyric Theatre, May 13 2010

What would you do if the boffins announced that the universe would end in three weeks time?

There's enough noises off in A Thousand Stars Explode In The Sky (at The Lyric, Hammersmith until 5 June 2010) for us to know that there's plenty of looting and mayhem afoot in the West End, but on stage, five brothers from an erstwhile irrevocably split family, seek to reconcile their differences prior to the earthly final reckoning.

The play's publicity makes much of the fact that the script was written as a collaborative venture between three established playwrights - David Eldridge, Robert Holman and Simon Stephens - so there's a temptation to go looking for individual contributions, but, possibly because so much television is written by teams, your reviewer couldn't see the joins. Technically, then, the script is sound, but it is ironic that the play's best scenes are silent - a mother's tender washing of her dying son's wasting body and the quiet acceptance of Fate as the end draws nigh. There is some dark humour in the characters' bitterness at the lots that have been dealt them, but the tone of the evening is EastEnders-grim, with dysfunctional personalities declaiming their dysfunctionality. The juxtaposition of the literally earth-shattering external environment with the intimacy of a family trying to put itself back together in the face of death, probably worked better on paper than it does over two hours on a very bleak stage after a day in the office.

Nevertheless, EastEnders-grim is a style with a big fanbase, many of whom will be moved by Nigel Cooke's confession, as he accepts that cancer will cheat him out of the collective death of the human race. At the other end of the brothers' age scale, Harry McEntire's confession is altogether lighter in tone, if somewhat predictable. Surrounding the brothers are the women who service their needs in a rather old-fashioned, slightly stereotyped way - Ann Mitchell gives us an energetic matriarch and Tanya Moodie plays a wife touchingly making the best of her lot. Kirsty Bushell is the sparkiest of the women, though cast as a neglectful mother, unwilling to compromise to meet her son's hopes even as the world ends. Her charisma rather overpowers a one-dimensional character.

The Lyric enjoys a well-deserved reputation for producing work that shies away from the easy options, and this play is no exception. With good transport links, excellent facilities and a beautifully restored opera-house theatre, it's a boon to West London's diverse communities - and its artists and playwrights. Long may it continue to challenge its artists and audiences with work that does things differently.

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