When it comes to being second best, Asa Butterworth’s performance is anything but. He’s recognisable from Hugo, Sex Education and Enders Game and once again managed to engage the audience for nearly 90 minutes in what could easily have been a dreary, tedious monologue. Instead, we were transported through a big studio space into his world as Martin Hill and his disappointments that all stem from not being chosen to play Harry Potter.
Asa Butterworth even looks the part of Harry Potter, but alas, he is runner-up. The narrative takes several comic turns, told from Martin’s perspective as an adult now expecting his first child. Butterworth owns the stark, lonely stage at the Riverside on which, with the aid of props such as tinfoil and crisp bags, he triggers memories of a life filled with trauma and insecurity.
He and his dad ostensibly have a strong bond that’s beset by bittersweet moments when people outside of their world demean them. For instance, he recalls a time when, while waiting for his father on the set of a film, a supposed big shot sees him and speaks to the young Martin affably but soon modifies his tone towards him when Martin mentions that his dad’s a set maker on the film. But all this is about to change, because with the possibility of Harry Potter, their lives are about to change, and father and son work themselves up into a frolic of excitement as they consider questions like whether they’ll move to Hollywood.
But when they walk into the boss’s office after the last audition, his dad instantly realises that their hopes are about to come crashing down. Martin’s not interested in the minor parts being offered to him in consolation and plumps instead for return to a normal life. But his world is about to turn upside down again after his dad is diagnosed with a terminal cancer, so Martin moves to Paris to be with his mother. From there, Martin goes down and down, as life with his mother’s new partner doesn’t prove happy. But he comes through, largely because, after a violent incident with his mother’s partner lands him in a psychiatric institute, he enjoys the unwavering support of his mother.
There are comedy moments and chuckles aplenty during Asa’s performance as he diffidently explains his avoidance of anything that might evoke memories of Harry Potter or even the initials HP. It’s once he gets a job in the Louvre that he’s able to hide amongst the greats: the Mona Lisa and the paintings to the side that everyone assumes are second best and get none of the attention. It’s here he finds life’s other second bests to whom he can relate, before he eventually gets to lay eyes of Daniel Radcliffe, who stumbles upon him in the Louvre when asking directions. It’s a moment of catharsis, after which he’s able to confront his demons full-on.