Sing Street - Lyric Hammersmith: A sonic success, but stays scratching the surface
⭑ ⭑ ⭑ - 70% • 3 minutes 36 seconds read time
Sing Street at the Lyric Hammersmith is a curious one to pin down. It is vibrant, undeniably enjoyable, and filled with energy, yet it also feels as if it never quite digs beneath the surface of its own potential. A high three-star experience, it brims with style and some great performances, but lacks the depth that could have elevated it to something truly mark-making.
Many of the creative choices were bang on the money. I really enjoyed the staging, the use of the space, and the movement through it. The movement direction ensures scenes flow with a kind of cinematic quality, it’s very fluid throughout, it feels malleable almost. The set is playful, resourceful, and makes great use of the space. At no point does it feel there’s too much crammed in or too little to be interesting. Costumes are just as effective, capturing the flavour of the 80s with plenty of charm and a good dose of humour. I also have to applaud the use of live camera work - a device that has often left me cold in theatre, but here it adds dynamism and visual texture without overshadowing the action.
But the pièce de résistance of Sing Street is the music. This is where the show truly shines. To hear a new original score that stands confidently alongside its era’s pop classics is a joy. The songs are catchy, full of personality, and made all the stronger by being played live on stage by the cast themselves. When underscored with well-chosen tracks of the 1980s, the soundscape becomes completely magnetic, pulling you directly into the time and place. Sonically there can be no question, the show delivers.
The performances are also impressive. Sheridan Townley, leading the company at just twenty, is an exceptional find. Their voice is rich, their presence magnetic, and their performance has the kind of ease that suggests a career destined to flourish. To reference one Louis Walsh - he looks like a pop star, he sounds like a pop star, he is a pop star. If the right roles come their way, we’re in for a treat as theatre fans. Jack James Ryan as Barry is also a standout, bringing real humour and humility to the school bully turned ally. And Grace Collender as Raphina anchors the piece. She is the spark that propels the narrative forward, and Collender imbues her with charisma and vulnerability in equal measure. Plus her storytelling through song is already so solid.
Yet, as strong as these performances are, the accents are a stumbling block. Too many of the cast struggled to sustain a convincing Dublin lilt. This might seem a small detail, but when a production is set so specifically in 1980s Dublin, a city whose history and socioeconomic challenges are central to the story’s meaning, it matters. Without believable accents, the authenticity slips, and I found myself constantly reminded of the gap between the stage and the world it was trying to recreate.
And it is here that my biggest frustration lies. Because for me, the story that Sing Street is asking to tell is not just about a boy starting a band to impress a girl. The deeper, richer story is about what desperation born of deprivation can drive people to. To despair, yes, but also to creativity. To remaining stuck in survival mode, to seeking dangerous company and taking risks in the hope of escape. To the tension between stagnation and opportunity, between what is and what might be. Dublin in the 1980s was not just a colourful backdrop, it was a crucible, shaping the futures of its young people. This production occasionally brushes against that reality, giving us glimpses of something powerful, but it rarely commits to it. The result is that the show feels a little surface level, content to entertain rather than to fully explore the weight of its context. And whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong with just wanting to entertain, when you have chosen to set your piece in that place, at that time, you have done so for a reason. Because there was something specific about that time and place that makes this story possible. To not really commit to exploring that feels hollow. If it was just an entertaining story about a boy wanting to impress a girl, it could be set any time, any place. There is a question of why that to me never seemed to get answered.
That said, Sing Street is still good theatre. It is stylish, it is fun, it has memorable music and compelling performances. I left with melodies stuck in my head and a genuine admiration for the young cast. But I also left with a sense of what more it could have been, if only it had leant more heavily into the grit, the heartache, and the urgency of its setting. Entertaining as it is, by setting it in 1980s Dublin the production asks to be judged against the reality of that time and place. And without that deeper commitment, it seems to become just another boy-meets-girl story that could happen anywhere.