REVIEW: The Lodger by Lauren Lewis at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre 17 – 21 October 2023

“I get the feeling that you need me a little more than I need you” ★★★ ½

Walking into the The Lodger is walking into the enforced cheerfulness of cross-cultural cohabitation: A working-class family from Woolwich, struggling with the rising cost of living, is preparing to take in a paying house guest. English and Italian flags share the space, which is dipped in symbolic green, white and reddish lighting, while a “Welcome Andrea” banner announces their determination to make the best of it.

When Andrea the Italian woman turns out to be Andrea the Italian man, predictable chaos ensues.

Lucy Hilton and Julian Bailey-Jones may have taken on the hardest tasks of the group, playing parents a good two decades older than themselves, and both do an excellent job: Hilton’s anxious, well-meaning mother flits around the cramped house, trying desperately to make everything alright, while Bailey-Jones mines laughter with as little as a slump and blank stare. It’s not easy to establish an inter-generational dynamic in a similar-age cast, but the pair earn their parental roles right off the bat and maintain them through lectures, redundancy discussions and paralysed horror at the creaking bedframes of their offspring having sex.

Niamh Deany and playwright Lauren Lewis play the nicely contrasting sisters: Deany’s Lily still hopeful, idealistic, ready to throw herself into adventure and romance, Lewis’s Megan on edge, trapped, worn down by the realisation that her life never really began and it may be too late to start. As Megan’s clueless boyfriend, Alfie Jameson is given the bulk of the play’s most exasperating lines—from obliviousness, not malice—but makes good use of his final moment of hurt realisation.

Jacopo Mascitelli pulls off the plot mechanics of his chaos-sowing-intruder role without ever becoming permanently unlikeable, which is impressive, considering he pledges his true love to one sister on the same day he sleeps with the other.

Sam Williams and Rachel McKay direct jointly with a clear understanding of what the text needs: high-octane energy, crisp comedic timing and an excellent use of the space’s two doors to create a carousel of sit-com entrances and exits. Their scene transitions are particularly deftly done, highlighting family chaos, relationship shifts and power struggles over shared space and resources. The giant couch in front of the telly, a constant battleground, is almost a character in its own right.

It’s when the zip and fun slows down that the plot scaffolding begins to creak. In their moments of serious discussion, each characters says pretty much what you would expect them to—the father wounded in his masculinity and suspicious of the foreigner, the daughter sick of her cramped life, etc. After the first scene, you could probably predict the beats to come, and the Italian lodger remains more of a plot catalyst than anything else. The characters spell the themes out clearly: “He might be my only ticket out of here,” Megan says, justifying her romance; “How am I supposed to know what I want when my options are so limited?” her sister complains. There are few surprises and little subtext here.

However, there is enough zing in the writing, energy in the pacing and warmth in the performances that you end up not much caring—this is a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Box Office https://app.lineupnow.com/event/the-lodger-1

Cast and Creatives

Written by      Lauren Lewis

Directed by     Sam Williams & Rachel McKay

Cast       Alfie Jameson, Jacopo Mascitelli, Julian Bailey-Jones, Lauren Lewis, Lucy                    Hilton, Niamh Deasy

Produced by RamPage Theatre Company

Reviewed by Anna Clart