Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Luke Barton, Charlotte Wilson, George Doran, Liam Hale.

Two of life’s undoubted pleasures are seeing a piece of work for the first ever time on stage, played and directed with so much passion you could almost believe someone could be having an affair with the themes and words of Albert Camus and sending them flowers every weekend, and watching someone you first saw on stage many years ago, trusting your gut that their performance was magnificent, then catching them again and knowing that what you thought of their early promise was correct and they are now just sublime and outstanding. Two great pleasures in one play, L’Étranger, at the Everyman Theatre; life really is surrounded by strangers, clowns and shining brilliance.

When it comes to Rio Matchett’s directing career there are no surprises left, a woman of high integrity and whose love of the theatre announces itself in everything she puts her authority upon, if she wanted to do so she could direct somebody reading an old G.P.O. stamp pricing index and it would come out as vivacious and interesting, a real gem. When it comes making sure that an audience goes away content with the world, even after watching something slightly off the beaten track as an adaptation of Albert Camus’ The Outsider (L’Étranger), Rio Matchett is peerless.

The new Everyman Theatre was built for occasions such as this, moments in which to let the scales of what you know fall and be replaced by a play that can teach you more about the Human condition than a series of text books can ever hope to impress upon you.

Making a welcome return to a stage in Liverpool, Luke Barton played the anti-heroic Meursault with stunning conviction, the way in which he captured the very essence of the man accused of murder, of a man devoid of feeling even the loss of his own mother whilst retaining the sparkling wit that makes this work so utterly charming, was nothing short of remarkable.

Aided by members of LUDS (Liverpool University Drama Society) plays past, Charlotte Wilson, George Doran and Liam Hale, L’Étranger was the perfect way in which to while away an hour of time in perfect contemplation and enjoyment. Staged with minimum fuss but with great effect, especially in the hands of comedy master Liam Hale, L’Étranger was breathtakingly gorgeous to watch.

A piece of time in which to savour!

Ian D. Hall