Review Roundup: REDLANDS at Chichester Festival Theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre is presenting the world premiere of Charlotte Jones’s new play Redlands about the famous 1960s drugs trial of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, directed by Chichester Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director Justin Audibert, and running through 18 October.

The cast is: Anthony Calf (One Day, The Gold, Plenty and Hedda Tesman CFT) as Michael Havers QC, Ben Caplan (Call The Midwife, Sunny Afternoon West End) as Allen Klein/George Harrison, Clive Francis(ENRON, The Circle CFT) as Cecil Havers, Louis Landau (Butterfly, Rivals) as Nigel Havers, Emer McDaid (Game of Thrones, Witness for the Prosecution) as Marianne Faithfull, Brenock O’Connor (Alex Rider, Gamer of Thrones) as Keith Richards, Olivia Poulet (The Thick of It, Top Girls CFT) as Carol Havers, and Jasper Talbot (Broadchurch, recent RADA graduate) as Mick Jagger; alongside Melody Chikakane Brown as Constable Slade/Daphne, Lara Rose McCabe (Ensemble), Sam Pay (as Inspector Dineley/Judge Block), Akshay Sharan (as PC Willis/Vivek Chakrabarti), Ella Tekere (Ensemble), Riley Woodford (Ensemble) and Adam Young (Sniderman/Derek Carter).

In the quiet market town of Chichester, the most famous members of the most infamous rock group in the world are on trial.

1967. At Keith Richards’s country house Redlands in deepest West Sussex, the Rolling Stones are enjoying a bohemian night in with the likes of Marianne Faithfull and George Harrison, until the constabulary swoop down and charge Keith and Mick Jagger with drug offences. 

Only one man can defend the two icons of the 60s revolution: Michael Havers, leading QC and future attorney general. But the furore also brings into the spotlight his own relationship with his son, aspiring teenage actor Nigel Havers, who’s been drawn into Marianne’s orbit...

This riotous, psychedelic and hugely entertaining account of possibly the most bizarre English court case ever held evokes a turning point in cultural history and the clash between the generations. See what the critics are saying...

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: It is never easy to breathe life into celebrities as thoroughly known as Jagger and Richards; here they are not given the space or depth to be anything other than broad brush types. But both actors carry a likeness at least, especially Talbot in Jagger’s hip-wiggling foot stomps when he sings. Joanna Scotcher’s set design captures the moment, and the era, with its ruched red curtains and light bulbs. Ryan Dawson Laight’s flower-power trousers and flamboyant neck-ties are delightful, even if they verge on Austin Powers’ exaggeration. It revs into fullness as the family story becomes emotional but leaves the fascinating social and music history around the Redlands episode squeezed and ultimately it seems oddly twee for a play about rock’n’roll rebellion.

Clive Davis, The Times: Richards and Jagger are reduced to incidental players in all this. Brenock O’Connor and Jasper Talbot (another debutant) capture the pair’s cocky charm, but they’re two-dimensional figures whose function is to launch into songs, backed by a solid band, at unlikely moments. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction is shoehorned into the storyline along with Can I Get a Witness, while there’s a celebratory jam session at the end that will send fans home happy.

James Butler, Portsmouth News: Yes, clearly a lot of dramatic licence has been taken (did a future attorney general really give his son a spliff?) and not everything worked – the scene where Michael gets high and fantasises about Marianne felt uncomfortable to me rather than heartwarming – but by and large, this was a feel good, uplifting and humorous night which left me wanting more. Once again the CFT reminds us what regional theatre is at its best – taking local stories from its community and spinning them into gold.