Stereophonic at Duke of York’s Theatre
Neil Dowden in the West End
18 June 2025
David Adjmi’s Stereophonic premiered Off-Broadway in 2023 then transferred to Broadway the following year where it was nominated for 13 Tony Awards (a record for a play) and won five, including Best Play. This West End production is once again directed by Daniel Autkin and designed by David Zinn, with music by former Arcade Fire member Will Butler, while three of the original cast reprise their roles. Set in a California recording studio in 1976–7 as a fictional band struggle to overcome personal and creative tensions to complete an album that could make or break them, the play is clearly inspired by Fleetwood Mac’s recording of the classic rock LP Rumours. But Stereophonic is also a convincing, entertaining portrayal of the agony and ecstasy of artistic collaboration in general.
Lucy Karczewski, Nia Towle and Jack Riddiford.
Photo credit: Marc Brenner.
The transatlantic make-up, the instruments the members of the band play, and their turbulent relationships all parallel Fleetwood Mac’s, as does the role the two engineers play in the recording process. The perfectionist singer/guitarist Peter takes the lead in producing the album, upsetting the others with his overbearing insistence on doing things his way in seemingly endless takes that do eventually improve the record. But his controlling, borderline abusive behaviour towards his partner, singer/tambourinist Diana, leads to their splitting up. Meanwhile, singer/keyboardist Holly can no longer tolerate the drink and drug addictions of her husband, bassist Reg, and breaks up with him. And drummer Simon hears that his wife back in the UK with their two young children has left him.
We also see the band from the outside – or from the other side of the glass screen in the recording studio – via the viewpoints of engineer/producer Grover and his co-engineer Charlie, who have their own challenges in trying to capture the best sound possible while managing the musicians’ fiery egos. There are slanging matches between just about everyone, and the arguments even get physical at one point. Amidst protracted late-night sessions with booze, reefers, and a bag of cocaine being shared, the pressure is on to deliver the goods.
Despite all this emotional turmoil there are epiphanies when the band transcend their differences and come together to nail a song. The underlying theme is the marvel of how out of hedonistic excess and bitter conflict arises such a richly satisfying, harmonious work of art. Adjmi’s style is highly naturalistic, almost documentary-like – and a persuasive account of the seventies music scene with genuine insights into the creative journey. Like the making of the album itself, it’s a slow-burn full of fraught pauses and some longueurs – but the running length of almost three and a half hours is justified by the end result. Often very funny – there is banter as well as bitching – the play also touches a tender spot in showing how long-term intimate relationships don’t survive the stress of working and living together.
Autkin’s organic production credibly conveys the highs and lows of working in a rock’n’roll band, with its in-fighting and love-ups, periods of tedium as well as moments of revelation. Stereophonic is definitely a play with music rather than a musical, but Butler’s songs written in a seventies soft-rock style are undeniably catchy and capably performed by the cast themselves, including sweet vocal harmonies. Usually there are just snatches of music – tantalizing as it sounds so good! – as the band try and try again to develop the songs, though sometimes whole tracks are played with exhilarating success.
Zinn’s marvellous set is a fully realized replica of a recording studio with the audience and the engineers at a mixing desk looking through the dividing screen into the soundproofed room where the band perform with their equipment, coming outside in between takes. Ryan Rumery’s sound design adroitly alternates between separating the musicians from the engineers and opening the microphones for communication (which the latter sometimes discreetly use to eavesdrop on private conversations). Jiyoun Chang’s lighting also fluctuates between the two sides of the glass. And Enver Chakartash’s costumes, including paisley, flares, and platforms, give an authentic period feel.
The ensemble cast, with their easy, tactile body language, make us believe that the band members have known each other at close quarters for sometime. Jack Riddiford is excellent as the driven, histrionic Peter who is hypercritical of his colleagues, especially his partner Diana, whom Lucy Karczewski shows gaining in self-assertive confidence as time goes on. Zachary Hart is an amusingly stoned, hippieish Reg who tries to go clean but not soon enough for Nia Towle’s long-suffering Holly who decides to go her own way. Chris Stack’s normally laid-back Simon is freaked out by his domestic crisis, while Eli Gelb’s ambitious Grover endures a nightmare to achieve his goal of becoming producer, abetted by Andrew R. Butler’s enjoyably kooky Charlie – all three survivors of the original New York cast of a play that will surely also be a big hit here.
