I am specifically still stunned by the actor who played Stuart. Fraser Ayres played his character having a disability so well I began to wonder whether he was actually disabled. Goddness me he should have an exciting future ahead of him.
The cast as a whole were wonderful and the staging imaginative. It's a play that deserves to be seen.
Stuart is a homeless addict with a history of violence. How Jack Thorne made him as funny and appealing a character as he did, I have no idea.
Overall Stuart is moving and funny, yet dark. It included that seemingly obligatory section in all modern plays where you are made to feel really uncomfortable in order to be thought provoking. This would ordinarily at the very least irritate me (and has been known to make me rant). But in this case I thought it worked.
I didn't realise it was a biography and a film first. I'm pleased I didn't know as I have it now only as an outstanding experience of wonderful theatre.
Plus it was only £10 - which is ridiculous when I think how much money I had to pay to buy myself a ticket to Smurfs 2 at Centertainment...
I thought his performance was stunning too. But I came away worrying about it because, if seeing his physical disability was so important, why did they not cast a disabled actor? Particularly after the 'don't play me, pay me' campaign. Really torn. And the supporting cast were a bit meh. The two central characters amazing re: delivery though, ignoring physical portrayal. I heard the book serialised on the Radio so I knew a bit about it, and tbh I think the text was the third star of the show.
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