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Review by Gabriella la Rocha in the Camden New Journal
The Tower Theatre Company’s production of the West End hit of 1972 focuses on conflict and how it affects love, friendship and the promise of a better world.
Leningrad, 1942, three teenagers unite in their search for warmth and a place to sleep, while neighbours are dying daily in their homes because of the fierce and glacial winter – an enemy as powerful as a German attack.
Taking furniture from the deceased and burning books for the stove are the only means of survival. Food is rationed and talons (coupons in Russian) are hard to find
Matar, played by Stuart Brown, brings Lika a cube of sugar – is he courting her? Leonidik turns up injecting new life into their friendship, and possibly love, but it’s the hardship and the cruelty of war that surface and dictate their choices and decisions.
As the play moves forward to 1959, questions arise – do they live in a better world, are they happier in their new country, has Lika married the right man?
The two young men fought the war, but do they know what they were fighting for?
The cast magnifies the pain brought by the war and show how it never ebbs. It’s the cast who pull it off during the second act, when the confrontation of the three characters becomes tiresome.
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