REVIEW: Firebird at King’s Head Theatre 9 January – 9 February 2025

"A heartbreaking, but largely passionless, reminder that the bird's not out of the cage just yet" ★★★



For their first anniversary, the new King's Head Theatre is opening 2025 with the world premiere of Firebird. Adapted from the 2021 movie by Peeter Rebane and Tom Prior, itself adapted from the 1993 memoir by Sergey Fetisov, this production rounds the circle by bringing it to the stage in a play by Richard Hough.

Firebird tells the story of two young military men, a pilot and a private, who begin a forbidden affair on their base in Soviet Estonia. It's a classic illicit love story, nothing particularly groundbreaking, but it doesn't need to be: its subject matter is important enough, and as relevant as ever.

Sergey (Theo Walker), a private completing his national service, and Roman (Robert Eades), a rising-star officer, are the centrepiece of this cast of four. Their story is orbited by the “Comrade Colonel” (Nigel Hastings) and their close mutual friend Luisa (Sorcha Kennedy), though actually all four of them are as underdeveloped as each other. Sadly that's a casualty of the 90-minute runtime and ambitious chronology.

Despite the political backdrop and the undertow of menace throughout though, it's a gentle story that follows Sergey and Roman's secret love through the years to its poignant conclusion. 

It's all fine. A heartbreaking, but largely passionless, reminder that the bird's not out of the cage just yet. Great swathes of the world still have to live like this, wings clipped. However, the skyward mix of lust and love in this production comes a bit out of nowhere and quite randomly; and the interesting question of how the characters perceive their own sexualities before and after is never explored – are they closeted, confused, or enlightened at the point of that fateful first kiss? It doesn't really matter as that's not what it's about, but it might have added some psychological depth, which is otherwise lacking and traded-in in favour of a longer timescale.

There are moments though where the bird almost ignites. There's the quiet eroticism and anticipatory tenderness of Roman (Eades) peeling an orange for Sergey (Walker). It works in this silent, tense, and fragrant scene, but it could have had a gut-punch passion that we never actually see: or maybe we do see, but don't believe. Though Eades and Walker give capable performances individually, they don't have too much chemistry together. That speaks to the tone of the whole thing: it's too cautious of sensuality, feels a bit like it's holding back. Again, it's fine. But it's not dangerous or brave like the lives of these men.

The same can be said elsewhere. For all of Comrade Colonel's (Hastings) deliciously clipped lines giving us an element of the Darth Sidious, there's remarkably little fear or jeopardy running through the struts and trusses of the plot. The stakes feel lower than they actually are or ought to be. It's not slow or fast, and it's neither shallow nor deep. It's fine. It is engaging, but as a whole it's just not quite taking flight.

The Brutalist set by Gregor Donnelly is simple and steely, as cold as the war; it’s effective, even if some of the scene changes are somehow a bit distracting, perhaps too long and clunky, but ultimately that also works fine. And the lights by Clancy Flynn are similar: straightforward and functional, with a couple of creative moments. They're all fine as well.

I'm not crazy about the dialogue. You'll find one or two decent lines – the imagery of wives and mothers in the household and on the battlefield to clear up the mess of war – and a couple of witty ones satirising the propagandist ideology, but they too seem appropriately utilitarian. The symbolism and metaphor of the Firebird itself never really gets off the ground either, in fact it seems to actively bury it; but, hey, it works for the emu, so maybe the analogy is there somewhere.

So all that said, it's tricky. For me, in this instance, the firebird is more of a puffin than a phoenix. But I did enjoy it, and as always, I strongly encourage you to support venues and stories like these. You'll get a night of solid, dependable theatre. It's not heavy, but then again, it's the hollow bones that make the bird fly. So do go and see this important story, just don't expect to be set alight. 

Photography: Geraint Lewis

FIREBIRD by Richard Hough

Based on the memoir by Sergey Fetisov and the screenplay by Peeter Rebane & Tom Prior

Directed by Owen Lewis

Produced by Seabright Live Ltd

Box Office: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/firebird 

Reviewed by Alix Owen