The White Chip by Sean Daniels. Southwark Playhouse, the Large, 77 Newington Causeway, Southwark, London SE1 until 16 August 2025, 4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.
Photo Credit: Danny Kaan.
The White Chip by Sean Daniels. Southwark Playhouse, the Large, 77 Newington Causeway, Southwark, London SE1 until 16 August 2025,
4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.
“Informative and moves at speed.”
A terrific performance from Ed Colman as Steven, an alcoholic going through life with great difficulty and eventually getting himself sober is one reason for seeing Sean Daniels' play which is based on his own experiences. Colman gets fine support from Mara Allen and Ashlee Irish who play all the other people Steven encounters during his fall, notably his mother who was also an alcoholic and in a recovery programme. The play is informative, although it does escape becoming a temperance lecture. As the evening moves at breakneck speed on does become involved in how Steven, a Mormon boy, who has a successful theatre career, a marriage, and apparently everything anyone could want. It is how meets the challenges along the way to a sobriety which it will always be a battle to maintain that provides the heart of the play. Director Matt Ryan has ensured it moves at speed and the sparse set – mostly a few chairs lots of bottles of alcohol, and from time to time a table with a glitterball overhead and occasional showers of confetti - provides an ideal acting area for what we see. That he started off as a Mormon boy did suggest things would go in a totally different direction and his saving turns out to be when instead of his own tribe he encounters a Jewish group and discovers some of the reasons why he drinks. The white chip is what you get if you keep sober for 24 hours. The world today is full of donts and people who drink alcohol do not all become addicts by any means – drink is also one of life's pleasures. Addiction, however, is a disease and talking about it like people do about cancer for instance is what this play does.
Cast
Ed Colman – Steven
Mara Allen - #1
Ashlee Irish – 2#
Creatives
Director – Matt Ryan
Set & Costumes Designer – Lee Newby
Lighting Designer – Jamie Platt
Sound Designer – Max Pappenheim