Affluenza at Riverside Studios: Stranger Things' Noah Schnapp stars in thin satire

The Stranger Things takeover of London theatre continues, with Noah Schnapp – Will Byers in the Duffer Brothers’ cult series – headlining this peculiar rollercoaster satire on American culture. His stage debut in the capital follows Sadie Sink’s superb West End Juliet and Linnea Berthelsen in the current, riveting solo show Darkling, and narrowly precedes another co-star, Gaten Matarazzo, in the much-awaited revival of Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent. Affluenza is the least roadworthy vehicle of the four, although the fact it also features Janette Manrara in what I believe is her professional acting debut ensured a decent turnout of her fellow Strictly dancers, plus Tess Daly, in Hammersmith on opening night.The play is written and directed by Andy Sandberg (no, me neither, but he won a Tony Award at 25 as one of the producers of the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair) and is the first of five new works he will helm in a season covering the best part of a year at Riverside. Schnapp initially plays Dylan, a feckless multimillionaire’s son who has caused multiple deaths and life-changing injuries in a car accident after drinking underage. When he and his rude, vulgar parents fail to show any remorse for his actions or realise they can’t buy their way out of a manslaughter charge, their lawyer Brad enters a defence of “affluenza”. Dylan’s family is literally too wealthy to have taught him right from wrong. From a broad indictment of the super-rich, the play hopscotches forwards, chronologically and thematically, to swipe at the law, the media, attitudes to race and – eventually and bizarrely – reality TV, as the grown-up Dylan and his family reap the rewards of infamy in the second act.Janette Manrara (Rosa) and Noah Schnapp (Dylan) in 'Affluenza' at Riverside StudiosDanny Kaan.Sandberg’s intention seems to be to keep the audience guessing with his twisty narrative and a surprise take on multi-role casting. Thus Rupert Young, who plays the lawyer, Brad, later appears as the adult Dylan, and Schnapp returns as Todd, Dylan’s son. Manrara is first seen as a put-upon Mexican housemaid: then as a high-flying Latina attorney explaining why white car-crash victims play less well in the media than black or Hispanic ones; then again as the sound engineer in the trashy fly-on-the-wall series.This might all work better if the characters had any flesh to them. But they are functional stereotypes, manipulated into implausible scenarios to move the plot forward. Often the smart-aleck doubling up backfires. American newcomer Wallis Currie-Wood is impressive as Brad’s wife Anna, a psychiatrist whose professional ethics and personal baby-hunger contrast with his yen for cash and kudos. But she pairs this part with a cartoonish, caterwauling turn as Crystal, the coarse Brooklyn girlfriend of the (sort of) grown-up Dylan. All the new characters in the second half, from the bitchy British director to the stoner cameraman to Schnapp’s emo-boy Todd, are paper-thin. For the record, Schnapp is fine, and Manrara isn’t bad, but there’s no real depth to anyone or anything here.Sandberg’s stagecraft tends towards the obvious as well as his writing. Lighting states change as a victim’s father (Donald Sage Woods) toggles between his prepared statement to baying reporters and his true feelings (“shove it up your ***holes”). Exits trigger entrances, sitcom-style. The subject matter also feels curiously dated. The super-rich are surely up to far worse now than dodging individual lawsuits. The show’s take on reality TV feels like a relic.Designer Charlie Corcoran’s beach-house set opens out into other locations – lawyers’ office, apartment, fruit stand – but can’t help but look cheap. You don’t get millionaire bling on a W6 budget. Read MoreSandberg’s five-play “Mainstage” season seems to be an attempt to give a sense of purpose and artistic coherence back to a once-vital venue that has struggled since it reopened after redevelopment in 2019. Next up are Sacrilegious by the writer of Dead Poets’ Society and a play called Expecting starring faces familiar from Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Skins. Let’s hope these, and the other two plays still to be announced, are better than this.