'Less is more' in The Fifth Step

Jack Lowden is "staggeringly good" as the young alcoholic Luka in this revised version of "The Fifth Step" at London's @sohoplace, said Clive Davis in The Times.

David Ireland's two-man show is "leaner and all the more compelling" than its original run at Edinburgh International Festival last summer.

"All jitters and tics and swear words", Luka is in a booze-soaked spiral and has turned to his sponsor, James, played by an "impressive" Martin Freeman, for help in making his way through a 12-step sobriety programme. The fifth step, we learn, is to admit your failings to God. This is no "conventional tale of overcoming adversity, but a morally ambiguous account of shifting power dynamics".

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One of the play's key studies is the nature of masculinity itself, said Sarah Crompton in WhatsOnStage, a theme that has only got "more topical" in recent months due to the Netflix series "Adolescence".

Luka worries that he "might be an incel" because he seems incapable of speaking to women sober and has ginger hair. But James is "far from the positive masculine role model he aspires to be", proving to be "aggressive and defensive". The pair are both revealed to be men whose lives are "out of control".

The duo's "presence and gear-switches are an irresistible theatrical proposition", said The Telegraph's Dominic Cavendish. "But the play itself remains a step-change short of a knock-out sensation."

Freeman, famed for his roles in "The Hobbit" and "Sherlock", shows a "harder edge of menace" here, said Nick Curtis in London's The Standard. And Lowden has recently "gone ballistic" in "Slow Horses", the Apple TV+ spy drama. The duo have "terrific chemistry on stage".

It is "challenging material", laid bare by set designer Milla Clarke's "open stage that offers nowhere to hide". It consists of little more than a table, folding chairs and some paper cups. "Less is definitely more," said Davis.

"Rooted in Ireland's own experiences of drink-dependency, sobriety, and the discovery of faith," said Curtis, the 85-minute play is a "vehicle for two actors at the top of their game". Keep watching until the end: the "absolutely magnificent" final "gag" is practically worth the ticket price alone.