Review of Toast at The Lowry by Natalie Anglesey

Review by Natalie Anglesey of Toast at The Lowry - 5 Stars*****

The world premiere of Toast at The Lowry, is the stage adaptation of popular cookery writer Nigel Slater’s award-winning, best-seller. It's a memoir of his early childhood, and I both laughed and cried while reading about the misfortunes of a young boy from what could only be described as a dysfunctional family. He lost his mother at an early age, and she was then replaced by a detested step-mother. The film, starring Helena Bonham-Carter and Freddie Highmore worked a treat but how it would adapt to a stage play is the current question. Nigel told me he always saw it as a play and fortunately it’s been skilfully adapted by Henry Filloux-Bennett and sensitively directed by Jonnie Riordan. They have included much of the humour in the original book and cleverly recreated suburban England in the 1960s. They’ve done this through a clever combination of tastes and smells of Nigel’s own childhood and although there are samples of food for some lucky people in the audience– it’s not all about food - so the story of the little boy is not lost. The casting is immaculate. Samuel Newton, whom we last saw here in The Curious Incident of the Boy in the Night-Time, plays Nigel with exactly the right air of precociousness. National Theatre player, Lizzie Muncey, plays his beloved mum who always burnt the toast, while Stephen Ventura is dad. Marie Lawrence is the detested Joan and Andy Brady plays both Josh and Stuart.  It was an added bonus that Nigel Slater himself was in the audience and great to catch up with him after interviewing him recently. He told me he'd enjoyed the play almost as much as I had! From the perfect sherry trifle (one of my favourite dishes) the war over cakes - to playground sweeties which were liberally handed out – it will evoke foodie memories for many of us.  But it’s also about love , loss and yes, as the title suggests, Toast! It’s also about the formative years of Nigel Slater, the author of a collection of bestselling books and presenter of nine BBC television series, who has also been the food columnist for The Observer for 25 years and long may he continue. Aristotle is supposed to have coined the phrase - give me a child before seven and I'll show you the man. See Toast at The Lowry until June 2 and you'll know a little more about Nigel Slater the man. Toast is part of Week 53 fulfilling The Lowry’s ambition to host bold and experimental contemporary art that is accessible and engaging to a broad audience. The inaugural festival, exploring The Lowry’s relationship with place under the theme ‘Locus’, saw approximately 10,000 visitors entertained by 200 performers across 63 performances – 33% of which were first time visitors. The Lowry is the most visited cultural destination in the North West and is increasingly expanding its role as producer and commissioner, cementing its position as a power house for culture. www.thelowry.com/Week53 / @The_Lowry