I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire follows the story of 14-year-old Shelby who is madly in love with Tobey Maguire. At least she thinks she is, until she kidnaps him and her plan starts to fall apart. Touching on themes of friendship, abuse, addiction and loneliness, the story uses comic relief on a somewhat dark and twisted plot.
When entering the theatre space, the audience were transported to a 14-year-olds bedroom in the 90’s. The bright pink colours and Britney Spears music immediately set the scene. Although something seemed different. Possibly the walls being plastered with photos of Tobey Maguire or the large pole, chain and handcuffs that stood in the middle of the room. Either way, set designer Rodrigo Hernandez Martinez made it clear to the audience that they were in for an interesting and original play.
Shelby, played by Tessa Albertson, presented a crazed fan, but ten times more crazy and ten times more damaged. As her family and friendship issues became more evident throughout the play, the audience switched between feeling sympathy for her and seeing her as a psychopath who is too sexually charged for her own good. The actress executed this madness perfectly, creating an uncomfortable and tense atmosphere when making eye contact with audience members and dancing as if no one was watching, which created a numbness to reality.
Tobey Maguire, played by Anders Hayward, took on the mannerisms of the actor we know from the big screen. His rebellious and addictive personality made us question how much we know about this actor, and touched on the idea of how the media can shape someone we don’t necessarily know. In particular, his physicality in the role, showing the distress he is under, curving his body into different shapes, highlighted the pressure of conforming as the person society has labelled you as.
Kyle Birch multi-rolled throughout this performance, leaving the audience in stitches with a performance of Tobey Maguire’s poster which came to life, and a larger than life Estate Agent. Birch’s characters were energetic and animated, which added to the delirious and imaginative nature of the play.
Samantha Hurley, the writer of this wacky play, clearly did her research on Spider-Man. Although it’s a witty and comedic piece of theatre, a lot of the jokes would be lost on audience members who were not familiar with the film series or the actor himself. However, audience members found humour in the elaborate characters and the twisted nature of the storyline, which got weirder and wackier even when thinking it was not possible.
Receiving a standing ovation at the end of the night, I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire is one for the Spider-Man fans, putting a dark and somewhat disturbing spin on a famous and loved superhero.
I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire is at Southwark Playhouse until 10th August
