Review by Paul Towers, 10/7/23
Ride, a new musical by Freya Catrin Smith & Jack Williams
Directed by Sarah Meadows
Produced by DEM productions & Curve
At Curve til Saturday 30th April 2023
“tales of daring do on a bike”
It’s 1894, the bicycle is the latest thing and all of America is fascinated by it. Somehow Annie Londonderry finds herself accepting a bet that a woman can’t cycle round the world in just 15 months. Annie is not one to admit defeat just because she has only been on a bike twice. To the world, her world, she is a championship cyclist along with all the other amazing talents she has.
Her story opens with her selling her story to numerous American newspaper owners in order to help finance her trip. With daring do tales of hunting tigers with German royalty to being a Harvard Professor and robbed by armed bandits, Annie bamboozles the world and feeds back to various editors her tales as she circumnavigates the globe.
Unfortunately the tales are just that, imaginary stories to keep the newspapers and readers entertained. As Mark Twain once said “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story” and Annie knew how to spin a tale.
Ride has had a less than straightforward passage to this the first full touring production. In November 2019 a one woman 20 minute version was performed as part of The Ceiling Project. In March 2020 it was performed at The Vault Festival. In June 2021 the show was opened up and had a workshop production in London’s Garrick Theatre. From there it finally had a full stage production in Charing Cross Theatre with Liv Andrusier as Annie, a role she has made her own.
Liv’s Annie is hyperactive and full of wild ideas while Martha (Katy Ellis), her secretary, is the comedy foil. This two-hander makes full use of an amazing adaptable set designed by Amy Jane Cook and hides the talented four piece band under the direction of Sam Young.
Ride is not just a story about cycling round the world it is an illustration of how someone brought up in the greatest privation can make something of themselves. Annie Londonderry was the creation of Latvian Jew Annie Kopchovsky who endured a childhood of virulent antisemitism and racism in the Boston tenements while growing up. It is no wonder she created a fictional world for herself.
Ride continues at Curve until Saturday 11th July and then at Southwark Playhouse.
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