Review: HOW TO KEEP WARM IN WINTER at Broadway Theatre

Set in 1973, our story begins with Irene (Julene Robinson), who is moving to England to reunite with her husband Everton (Emile John). She reminisces about her home in Jamaica but is ultimately excited to begin her new life. When she arrives, she finds her dreams unmet. Renting a room in a house that shares a shower in the hallway, feeling the cold setting in, and reconciling the life she dreamed about with the one she’s living. Everton is desperate to make it in London, to find his community and build a life good enough for Irene and their future children. He found himself there at the goodwill of Mr Johnson, from whom he rents the room, in turn for his care as he suffers from terminal illness. When Mr Johnson becomes too ill to care for himself and the building, his estranged son, David (Dudley O’Shaughnessy), takes over as landlord. With a head full of his own dreams about becoming a world class musician, David struggles to come to terms with his new role not only as a landlord but as a son to a dad he barely knows. Despite Everton’s hostility towards him, an unlikely friendship blossoms between Irene and David. As winter sets in and fuel and job shortages increase, Everton and Irene will need to give everything they have to keep their marriage and their dreams alive.

The staging (Maariyah Sharjil), lighting (Jahmiko Marshall) and sound design (Esther Kehinde Ajayi) of this production are incredibly well done and imaginative. The way the light changes to reflect not only the physical environment, such as warmth, cold, and fireworks outside the window, it also adds to the characters’ emotions and experiences in the scene. The sound creates the atmosphere of the shared house that they live in. With footsteps and thuds from upstairs neighbours and music that sounds exactly like you’re hearing it from the next room, it transforms the set of one apartment into the wider world they live in, and you can experience Everton and Irene’s Peckham from inside the room.

Emile John’s portrayal of Everton was amazing and balanced beautifully with Julene Robinson’s Irene. They became a truly believable couple, facing the hardships of migration that thousands of Caribbean people faced in the 1970s. The play, written by Kaleb D’Aguilar, juggled comedy and romance with tender moments of sadness and hardship, bringing the characters to life.

How to Keep Warm in Winter is a tender portrayal of one couple’s fight to belong and a love letter to the thousands of Jamaican migrants who built the communities and culture we celebrate in southeast London today. It’s perfect for theatregoers who want to discover something fresh, exciting, and empowering from underrepresented voices in theatre.