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If you were around Scotland last summer you may have been lucky enough to catch the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it inaugural run for Northern Irish playwright David Ireland’s The Fifth Step, which embarked on a two-week tour of Dundee, Glasgow and the Edinburgh International Festival, where it opened to warm notices.
It was a pretty fleeting return to the stage for its star, the Scottish actor Jack Lowden, who first made his name in the wildly acclaimed Scottish play Black Watch, and has gone on to wider success on screen, most notably his lead role in Apple TV’s hugely acclaimed Slow Horses.
Two weeks trotting around Scotland is, after all, a pretty low key way to mark his post-Slow Horses stage return, but it turns out the 2024 run was just a warm up – this spring The Fifth Step transfers to the West End. And while Lowden reprises the role of Luka, a newcomer to Alcoholics Anonymous, there’s a major piece of recasting as fellow big name Martin Freeman takes on the part of Luka’s newly-appointed mentor James, who has secrets that may imperil both of their recoveries.
The caustic Ireland’s second major London show after 2023’s Woody Harrelson-starring Ulster American, expect extreme provocation from the 90-minute show, which is directed by Finn den Hertog.
The Fifth Step is at @sohoplace, May 10-Jul 26. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Thursday January 23.
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