Jonathan Caren's Hit Machine, now playing at Soho Theatre in London, brings together the London stage debuts of Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) and Noah Galvin (Dear Evan Hansen), with direction by Daniel Bailey (Red Pitch) and music by Grammy-winning bluesman Ben Harper. The three-hander explores masculinity, appropriation, and buried family trauma through the lens of the creative process. Despite its promising ingredients, the play ultimately strikes too many false notes, failing to delve deeply into the weighty themes it raises.
Plot and Characters
Set in the louche, soft-furnished home of music mogul Wes (Radnor), the play begins with the arrival of his wayward younger brother Alex (Galvin). Alex throws a plaid-shirted bomb into Wes's carefully manicured, minimalist life. The siblings play their roles in the strained family dynamic: Wes is the high-achiever on the hedonic treadmill, always striving for more, while Alex is the sprightly yet secretive youngster seeking approval. Music, the source of Wes's success as a label boss and the medium through which the brothers bonded during a difficult childhood, is central. In the play's universe, making music is instantaneous: armed with a keyboard and laptop, the brothers tap a few keys like cyber-hackers in an early 2000s thriller, and beats come to life.
Direction and Performances
The tone is largely domestic, anchored by Bailey's unpretentious direction. However, when Caren's script injects more drama, the engaging realism falls apart. Galvin veers from playing Alex with the ebullience of an excitable eight-year-old to crazed mania, while Radnor switches from fatherly to loathing. The audience is given reasons for these mood swings, but the solutions feel singular and straightforward, rather than digging into the messy, often contradictory complexity of childhood trauma.
Supporting Character and Missed Opportunities
Khalil Madovi's brief appearance as Wes's new signee Defy the Leader brings some much-needed intrigue. His discussion of the societal expectations placed on Black men in the public eye touches on a fascinating subject without probing its depths, landing as an afterthought. According to the review, the play is ultimately a show about music without much music at all—only one song is performed in its entirety. It is a text about weighty themes that is too eager to resolve rather than allowing its drama to be properly felt and earned.
Hit Machine runs at Soho Theatre, London, until 15 August.
