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Looking back through nicotine-tinted glasses
20 CIGARETTES
Soho Theatre
IN the giddy new dawn of smokefree England, smoking has never been a more divided pursuit.
Riding the zeitgeist with more than a hint of churlish nostalgia, Marcy Kahan’s new play puts Oscar Klavier (Simon Dutton) on the psychiatrist’s couch to recall his 20 defining cigarettes as a cathartic means of quitting.
If the idea of a ‘desert island cigarettes’ retrospective sounds mawkish – not to mention a completely ludicrous method of kicking the habit – doubts are swiftly overcome by a sharp, assured script and a brace of sterling performances from the National Youth Theatre’s cast.
Toby Frow’s direction flits the action smoothly through Oscar’s life, as Dr Roth (Sarah Price) slowly prises information from the reluctant Oscar, from the first cigarette his mother gave him at 10 years old through his careers, crises and loves up until the present day.
Whether smoking at a Hollywood party, sharing a post-coital cigarette with a beautiful art student or discussing his future with his brilliant, competitive friend Milo (James Cooper), Oscar has always been a devout smoker, punctuating every memorable moment in his life with a tobacco infusion.
Credit must go to all three Oscar’s (particularly Alex Warren) for their stoic smoking abilities, though almost the entire cast (many of whom don’t look old enough to smoke in the first place) gleefully flout the ban, lighting up on stage throughout.
Harry Melling as Oscar’s jingoistic father is endlessly watchable but the whole cast is impressive.
Telling the key moments of a man’s comfortable existence through his cigarettes means 20 Cigarettes will never be an impartial look at smoking, and the cod-psychology resolution does not work at all, either for Oscar or the audience, but ultimately this does not matter.
Smoking is increasingly outlawed, forbidden by workplaces or partners, and Oscar’s memories, though fond, are a thing of the past.
Until August 30
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