Please Please Me - Kiln Theatre ★★★★★

Kiln veteran (ex-associate director) Tom Wright has teamed up with current Kiln captain (current artistic director) Amit Sharma to deliver this sweaty, sparkling Kiln-powerhouse opus with a level of quality one rarely gets to see in a one-month run.

The show details the tumult of the Beatles’ early days through the eyes of their charming and troubled manager Brian Epstein. It’s a fascinating character study – “Eppy” is portrayed by Calam Lynch with an astonishing level of confidence and tenderness. He carries the piece through every scene brilliantly, never losing his grasp on this complex, deeply withheld man for even a moment, even when the audience laughs at his beautiful recovery of a dropped prop phone – (“yes, she’s still there,” he says, jauntily replacing it). This performance is emblematic of the entire production: polished to the extreme.

The cast as a whole is excellent. William Robinson stuns in the multi-role of Peter, Mike and Dizz, each an extremely individual character created artfully and with great comedic sensibility. Eleanor Worthington-Cox is heartbreaking and hilarious in her three roles as Cynthia, Cilla and Aunt Mimi, again creating three extremely unique characters with tremendous alacrity. Arthur Wilson is also given three very different roles, each of which he brings to life with charisma and a uniquely characterised neurosis. Finally, Noah Ritter is fantastic in his professional stage debut as Lennon, giving a performance both strong and subtle – brusque kindness bubbling beneath his swaggering exterior.

They are aided by Jess Williams’ extremely comprehensive and brilliant movement direction. The transitions here are done with such precision and ordered quality that they seem to have been plucked straight from the Royal Ballet. Even within the scene, the movements of each character are so rehearsed and precise that they seem to float a couple of inches above the boards. The direction within the scenes is nothing to scoff at either, with action and performance finding beauty and contrast in nearly every line of the script.

And what a script! Tom Wright has found the perfect subject for a thorough interrogation of sexuality, shame, success, and love in a smothering capitalist society. Epstein’s story is so specific and yet so universal: his quest for success to destroy his immense shame, the attainment of vast material success, and the inevitable self-destruction upon the realisation that his victory is ultimately hollow. The dialogue is funny, sharp and poignant. “Thinking is spiritual poison” – a line that elicited an audience laugh, stands out particularly coming from Wright, a self-professed adherent of Buddhism, as an expression of Epstein’s false spirituality, manifesting in order for him to escape deeper into his own neurosis. The script is full of quotable zingers, but it’s better for you to go hear them in fully directed momentum.

The show is also technically of the highest quality; Tom Piper’s sliding set perfectly creates every scene location, and his and Deborah Andrews’ costumes perfectly articulate the period and the character without being overstated. The show is also laden with beautiful lighting transitions by Rory Beaton – truly some of the most beautiful light you can see anywhere in London at the moment. David Shrubsle’s music and sound are also very well crafted, the score steering away from any of the Beatles’ tracks and instead opting for a more modern, upbeat scoring at most points that goes perfectly with the transitions.

Please Please Me, a slick, smooth masterpiece, is worth the watch for anyone – especially those interested in The Beatles.