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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Arifa Akbar

Firewing review – tale of two twitchers in a bird hide is funny and fascinating

Gerard Horan as Tim, front, and Charlie Beck as Marcus in Firewing at Hampstead theatre
Gripping performances … Gerard Horan as Tim, front, and Charlie Beck as Marcus in Firewing at Hampstead theatre. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

A young aspiring wildlife photographer is trying out for an apprenticeship with one of the best in the business. Marcus (Charlie Beck) has just arrived at a bird hide, in the middle of nowhere. “No one can hear you scream around here,” says the older man, Tim (Gerard Horan), whose barking grumpiness carries its own threat.

Marcus, under his tutelage, gives as good as he gets and they rub along awkwardly until, slowly, they find affinities: they both hail from the same downtrodden housing estate and there are shadows lurking around their family life. You wonder where this meeting will go, with ambivalence around both men’s behaviour. Does Tim have an ulterior motive in getting Marcus to this remote spot? Is Marcus really who he says he is?

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