Review by: Paul Towers, 15 May 2021
The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown
A KW Production
Streaming on Stream.theatre 15 – 23 May 2021
“a sweet romance”
The pandemic has hit the entertainment industry very hard but it has spurred people on to find other ways to stage productions and get them to audiences.
KW Productions are a leading light in amateur shows and have gone digital with this streamed version of the critically acclaimed The Last Five Years.
The show explores the five year relationship between Jamie Wellerstein, an up and coming novelist, and Cathy Hiatt, a struggling actress. In the stage version of the story the two characters only meet at their wedding in the middle as Cathy’s story is told in reverse. However this digital re-imagining allows for much more interaction and Jamie’s timeline flows alongside Cathy’s.
Filming in local locations allows the camera to fill in the story behind the lyrics with a visual shorthand. This gives a much fuller narrative than on the stage.
There is an impressive soundtrack of multiple genres. Both Danielle Sanders (as Cathy Hiatt) and Keiran Whelan-Newby are in fine voice and do full justice to the material. Both being stalwarts of KW Productions and other shows.
The Last Five Years is available to stream from Stream Theatre til 23 May and is well worth the 85 minutes of romance.
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