Slick, kitsch, European-influenced and deeply surreal – there’s a distinctive feel to Lyric Hammersmith shows under current boss Rachel O’Riordan that’s like nothing you’ll find at other London theatres. And although this 80th anniversary revival of Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan (a co-production with English Touring Theatre and Sheffield Theatres) began life at Sheffield Crucible, it’s entirely at home here, chucking giant frogs, karaoke numbers and buckets of fun into a cynical anti-capitalist classic.
Director Anthony Lau and translator Nina Segal take a loose, playful approach that fuses the texture of a modern Chinese street scene with the free-wheeling silliness of an adventure playground, while designer Georgia Lowe’s set design is guaranteed to induce childish glee. She puts two curvy slides centre stage, flanked by wobbling curtains of hanging pool noodles and a giant paddling pool.
