I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard ~ [Finborough Theatre] ~ | Review

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Often the real dramas happen not on stage but behind closed doors, and that couldn’t be truer than in Halley Feiffer’s dynamic edge-of-your seat play ‘I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard’. Gripping, shocking, and raw, this is a black comedy with an emphasis on the black, so if you’re looking for some light evening entertainment then this probably isn’t for you.

The immediately striking thing about this play is that from start to finish it is high energy - a whirlwind of frantic emotion and twists and turns that isn’t easy to pull off with a two-hander. The play primarily takes place over the course of one night while ambitious actress Ella spends the evening drinking with her successful playwright father David as they put off reading reviews for her latest show. David tells Ella stories of how he started in the theatre business and the path which led to his success. Father and daughter are extremely close, but it’s not long before it emerges that things aren’t all happy families …
Jill Winternitz plays Ella, the neurotic actress desperate for her father’s approval. This is an emotional and nuanced performance which Winternitz delivers by throwing her whole self into it. At the start of the play her reactions seem a little forced, but as the play progresses her performance becomes much stronger and thoroughly convincing. Ella has very little dialogue for the first part of the show, the opening half an hour may as well be a monologue as David rants and barrels on at an alarming pace, pausing only to allow intermittent “Oh God’s” and “No!’s” from Ella, but as tensions build and emotions start running high it’s impossible not to feel sympathetic towards her.

Adrian Lukis, who plays David, is just out of this world. Not for a moment does his energy drop, not for a second is the audience in any doubt about who this man is. He swings from one extreme to another with natural ease, laughter and anger, ranting and whispers, love and disdain … his emotions turn on the edge of a knife with finely choreographed precision and he’s frighteningly believable. From the way he holds his hands to the set of his jaw, he is every inch David. The subtlest change in expression tells a thousand words, his eyes both warm-and-freeze the heart in the same moment, he’s enchanting and terrifying all at once and, while trapped in that theatre with him, we are all Ella.

‘I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard’ is an extraordinary play which is funny, gritty, and self-aware. There are moments where it’s a little too obvious, where some of the parallels between the two characters, for example, are a bit on the nose. The dramatic ironies could use a little more tact and subtlety but it’s still highly enjoyable, despite being a tad heavy handed in parts. It’s a shame that it’s taken this long for it to have its UK premiere. ‘I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard’ has all the makings of a modern classic and one can only hope that this won’t be the last time it makes an appearance on the London stage.

Fast paced, compelling, and very real, if you get a chance to see ‘I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard’ then go. To witness such a brilliant play and such a high calibre of acting in such an intimate space is really something special.

I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard ~ [Finborough Theatre] ~ | Review
★★★★