✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Theatre

Herons, Lyric Hammersmith review ★★★★★

15 Jan 16 – 13 Feb 16, 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Simon Stephens' Herons is revived in fresh new production by Lyric Hammersmith Artistic Director Sean Holmes

By CW Contributor on 26/1/2016

Herons by Simon Stephens, Lyric Hammersmith, photo Tristram Kenton
Herons by Simon Stephens, Lyric Hammersmith, photo Tristram Kenton
Herons, Lyric Hammersmith review 4 Herons, Lyric Hammersmith review Christina Kruse

COMPETITION: Win a pair of tickets to see Herons! Just email ruth@culturewhisper.com with your name to be in with a chance.

Herons, Lyric Hammersmith Review: Culture Whisper says: ★★★★★


At its heart, Simon Stephens' Herons is the simple story of a boy and a school bully who drag one another to the edge of mental illness.


The action picks up a year after Billy's father helped convict a young man for drowning a girl in the East End's River Lea, at a time when the criminal's younger brother Scott is tormenting podgy, school-nerd Billy. Stephens spares the audience nothing in depicting the bottomless depravities of schoolboy bullying and the violent capabilities of children.


When Stephens' play first came out 15 years ago to critical acclaim at the Royal Court, it premiered at the time when the murders of Damilola Taylor and James Bulger were still fresh in the public memory. Stephens isn't interested in the clean condemnation that we read in newspapers following these apparently baseness acts. He wants to examine the boys' souls, to tease out why and how they behave as they do, to muddy the water between good and bad behaviour, right and wrong.


Something of Billy and Scott's hidden natures are revealed in the course of the play, as the power balance between them reverses. Billy's ordeal at the hands of his tormentor builds him up: he becomes increasingly desperate and reckless, certainly, but also stronger. Conversely, Scott is weighed down by the family violence he has inherited, left empty following the confrontation with Billy and his own repellent acts, and is spotlighted in the final moments of the play alone, weeping and small.


The idea behind the play may be simple, but the writing is menacing and provocative, with two central chasing questions: 'will we still get to go to heaven?', and 'do you feel children are no longer allowed to have childhoods?'.


The set heightens the tense and brooding atmosphere of Stephen's script. The stage is flooded with water, where characters splash around representing both herons and the fish they hunt — and liberally splashing those sitting on the front row! The rolling film of monkeys fighting on a screen somewhat over-works the 'concrete jungle' metaphor, but has its poignant moments, and the black blockade that leaks water as Billy's self-control reaches breaking point is a compelling visual metaphor.


This is the first time Herons had had a major revival. 15 years on, it still feels topical and timely. Director Sean Holmes' production makes Herons an emotionally exhausting watch, which probes perceptions about the nature of cruelty and strength.


by Helena Kealey

What Herons, Lyric Hammersmith review
Where Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King St, W6 0QL | MAP
Nearest tube Hammersmith (Piccadilly and District lines) (underground)
When 15 Jan 16 – 13 Feb 16, 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Price £15 - £35
Website Click here to book via Lyric Hammersmith



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 12 - 14 August
Things to do in London this weekend: 12 - 14 August
London's loveliest indoor swimming pools
London swimming pools you can visit without membership
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2022

Editor's Picks

  • Competition

    Win a pair of tickets to see Herons at the Lyric Hammersmith. Just email ruth@culturewhisper.com with your name to be in with a chance!


    LORCA RELOCATED TO LONDON

    Maverick director gives Spanish tragedy Yerma a modern makeover

    SARAH KANE REVIVAL

    Brutal, impossible to stage drama Cleansed is revived at the National Theatre

    COMPLICITE: THE ENCOUNTER

    The biggest hit of the Edinburgh Fringe comes to London


Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

Lyric Hammersmith Spring Season

Simon Stephens

You might like

  • Uzo Aduba: The Maids, photo by Marc Brenner

    The Maids, Trafalgar Studios review ★★★★★

  • National Theatre: Solid Life of Sugar Water, Jack Thorne new play

    The Solid Life of Sugar Water, National Theatre

  • Royal Court Theatre: Yen by Anna Jordan

    Yen, Royal Court Theatre

  • Cuttin' It play: Young Vic, 2016

    Cuttin' It, Young Vic



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×