THIS IS HOW IT GOES
DONMAR WAREHOUSE

THIS is a difficult play to review without giving away too many of the twists. As witty as it is disturbing, and well acted as it is perfectly produced, This is How it Goes involves a tangled, inter-racial love triangle in small town America.
The more vocal crowds of the USA heckled Ben Stiller when he played the lead (Man) on Broadway and a hush set across the Donmar as some of the less savoury episodes are drawn out.
Man, played marvellously by Ben Chaplin, is an unreliable narrator whose depiction of events cannot be trusted. He is trying to write his first novel and the audience is left unsure where the facts slip away into fiction.
We know he eventually ends up with the girl, but he gives us several explanations of how he gets there and can we believe any of them or are they part of a writer’s imagination?
He is a former lawyer who has come back to his drab home town after apparently failing to make his way in the legal profession.
Man bumps into a former school heartthrob (Megan Dodds) who is now married to their athletic classmate Cody (Idris Elba), the only black boy for miles around.
Race is key to both the male characters.
Cody’s whole life has been carved out by his determination to excel in a white town. His status in the town is now under threat from his wife, who he regards as slovenly.
He struts about the stage using his powerful build and voice to threaten. He is clinical and serious, like a large pot always ready to boil over with rage. Cody doesn’t have fun.
Meanwhile, the white Man, at first so agreeable and charming, keeps aggravating the audience with his racial comments.
The lighting is superb, the script entertaining and snappy and your attention never lapses. Squeeze your way onto one of the Donmar’s uncomfortable pews before the date below.

Until July 9
0870 060 6624