Conversion, The Lion & Unicorn Theatre, stage review: ‘Delightfully light-hearted take on weighty subjects’
We’ve all been converted, haven’t we?
Someone comes along with a shiny new doctrine that has us awe-struck, and we’re ever so keen to be part of it.
If through these new ideas we can speak truth to power, we’re even prepared to overlook their logical imperfections.
Precarious Theatre’s 2024 offering is an operetta-style rendition of St Augustine of Canterbury’s ‘conversion’ of the Britons in Kent in the 590s.
The full house on the play’s first night is testimony to the company’s growing reputation for quirky yet thoughtful studies of socially relevant topics.
Liam Grogan and Marco Biasioli, the writing duo behind the production, deploy historical comedy to dissect the ways in which political leaders use ideologies of hate as a cover for corruption, and the heroic efforts of ordinary people to call them out.
The superlative David Allen steals the show in the role of Augustine, his demeanour shifting from gravitas to laugh-out-loud humour in the flick of an eyebrow.
Francesca Maria Izzo as his trusty peasant sidekick Esma does a stellar job bolstering his intellectual rigour in the face of the vanity, passion and melancholy to which he is all too vulnerable.
Wry and topical, Conversion is a delightfully light-hearted take on weighty subjects.
Conversion runs until 17 July at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre, 22-24 Gaisford Street, Kentish Town, NW5 2ED.