★★★★

Reviewer - Harry

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review.

Wildfire contains flashing lights and strobe, Smoke and haze, Loud sounds, some of which are sudden. The show also contains themes of Plane hijacking (theme of the play), There are transparent masks that obscure the look of the actors face, worn at various times during the play Animal cruelty/suffering/death (spoken about, not seen on stage), Moments within the play of shock and tension, Some strong language including explicit song lyrics.

Wildfire Road is a new play directed by Laura Keefe and written by Eve Leigh. The show follows honeymooners, middle managers and spontaneous singletons settle in after take-off to Tokyo. But this flight is no holiday as the plane has been hijacked as a wildfire burns below them. What's the hijacker’s motive, and where will they land?

Honestly, I went in blind with this one, I didn’t know what to expect. Would it be more serious? Why the name? And more questions sprung to my head on the way to the theatre.

The show takes on the theme of a plane being hijacked. With the show having unexpected songs, this is a play with music, not a straight play. The show is 80% serious to 20% funny. The whole production is really simplistic in design, with great acting from the 6 performers on stage, all of which do multi roles from speaking roles to the hijacker. The show is only 60 minutes long but makes an almighty impact in every one of those 60 minutes.

The Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, within the Crucible Theatre, makes a great space for this show and gives an immersive feel, which makes the audience feel they are passengers also.

Laura Keefe’s direction is brilliant and prominent, using breaking the fourth wall for all the characters, telling us the main questions you ask yourself: Who? What? When? Why? and How? The direction feels like the passengers of the flight are in an interview, or writing a book, or maybe you could say they are being filmed for a documentary. The direction is fully balanced to suit the piece and space that the show is playing in. You can definitely tell that the story is the bigger thing, rather than the movement on the stage, the audience can definitely focus, rather than be head-spinning to follow the performer around.

Eve Leigh's script writing is quite unique, never would I have thought that something serious, as the show topic, can have a few funny moments within it. The script has tones of anger, anxiousness to hopefulness, so many great things about it, we get a good chunk of monologue for each character to tell the story of the show. Which is well-balanced and not dragged out, Eve has done a good job sticking to 60 minutes, keeping it condensed, short and to the point. Unexpectedly the show has music…yes music, why do you ask? At first I was a little unsure but it made the show have another level of uniqueness, we start with having the passengers break into movement, whilst being told the safety procedures, you wouldn't expect it would you?

All the script and direction is great. The show has added movements by Carl Harrison, sometimes bringing clicks and moving in and out of each other whilst some talking adds another extra layer and adds to the already great direction and helps it not to become too static.

We are seeing pre-show performances in a lot of shows at the moment, (to name but a few &Juliet, Choir of Man and Moulin Rouge) Wildfire Road does the same, but this pre-show sets the atmosphere and scene. Setting off the whole show we see the passengers walking onto the plane and getting asked questions by flight attendants, which really is interesting to watch as you feel that you are a passenger too.

All in all the direction feels right, with dramatic contrasts with unexpected songs it really has your heart pumping…

As the cast only consists of 6 performers with all multi-rolling, either a speaking role or the hijacker or even both…the way everyone switches swiftly, defining each individual character, all was clear and understandable when speaking. This is a new play so developing characters must be hard and using drama techniques must have been key when developing them and it really showed.

Raj Bajaj was one of the cast members who multi-roled as passenger Rohan to aeroplane pilot Bryn. Raj plays the two parts well and gets the characters’ backstories going by being the first one telling the audience about the future. Raj creates a sense of wonder by starting to talk about the future… Why would you start a play about hijacking by talking about the future? Well all is revealed when you see the show, which is what I discovered. When playing Rohan you kind of feel this character takes the lead out of all the passengers. Rohan is going to Tokyo to start a new life, we get a real sense of this excitement by the tone of the voice used and also the slight anxiousness and nervousness of what is happening. Raj’s comedy moments were brilliant and had the audience laughing, but also engaged with what the character was saying.

Another great performance in the show was Phoebe Naughton who played Mariella, the singleton of the flight, the passenger only met their date on the dreaded flight. Phoebe's character has a secret admiration for Dave, played by Mark Weinman. Mariella shows this gradually and constantly by trying to make Dave laugh, or asking Dave questions, and then finally at the end kissing Dave. This confirms to the audience that it’s a definite yes that Mariella likes Dave. Phoebe's facial expressions are good and this character has only met her date once on the plane, in a very tense situation. So making the acting choices that were made was great, being more reserved than Dave’s character, Phoebe’s character didn’t know like all the others, who it was, you could see the choices by the tone of the voice and the body language used.

All in all the cast felt slick and tight, all working together making a great ensemble creating this play with music. All of the cast had a chance to shine telling the story, all pushing to tell the dramatic but gripping tale of events. Working with a small cast is hard and all of them did this with ease.

With the playhouse being small and having a performance space of thrust and in the round, it’s hard on how big or small to make the set but on the medium to large platform, having 6 spinning aeroplane chairs and a divider to show the cockpit and passenger seating area separately, but at the same time creates the story. They used a monitor/tv showing important and striking information whilst the play was unfolding. This is an idea that feels right. The show has this feature which I've never seen before as it gives the audience the info they need without the performers adding dialogue.

With the sound and the lighting, it’s used well with the sound pouring out at the audience adding to the experience of being on a plane, and the lighting switching to each of the different sequences or mood and not being amazingly bright, which is good as it lets the audience see better rather than having striking lights in your face. It is also a little funky…and floor light used to show the ground beneath, which was great.

Sheffield Theatres have produced many great shows… l can name a few, but I won’t do it right now, Wildfire Road could potentially be added to the list of them as it’s nothing like I’ve seen before, it could definitely have a future in a different medium…film maybe? But it is in its early stages right now, definitely not your usual way on how to stage a play when your theme is a horrific event but weirdly it kinda works. Some may like it, some may not, but whatever is your final review of the show, mine is you have got to see it to see what it has to offer…definitely worth a watch.

Step into the unknown of Wildfire Road.

At the Playhouse, Sheffield, until 18 March.