Play time: Woody Sez is on at the Underbelly Theatre in Soho only until September 19
The recent death of country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton focused attention on American folk music. Before Dolly, there was Woody.
KEN TOWL took the chance to see an acclaimed new play about Guthrie’s life and work currently on stage in Soho
In Edinburgh for the Fringe last month, I noticed a lot of posters for Woody Sez.
It seemed to be doing well. The posters boasted five-star reviews.
A friend went to see it, said it was great, but I was only up there for a couple of days and it was sold out when I was there. But now Woody Sez has come to London, for the briefest of runs.
While Edinburgh Fringe 2026 may be over, its spirit lives on in Soho, where Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, devised by and starring David Lutken, is playing at the Underbelly Boulevard at 6 Walker’s Court, at the very bottom of Berwick Street.
Woody Guthrie was the American folk singer whose inspiration lives on in songwriters like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen who document the American experience. One of his most famous was famously covered by Dolly Parton, who connected her musical legacy to Guthrie.
Guthrie was born in 1912 and grew up in difficult personal circumstances into the Great Depression. He travelled the States, sometimes walking, sometimes riding freight trains, illegally and dangerously, and he wrote and sang about what he saw.
And what he saw was suffering. Great armies of unemployed workers, starving and desperate, living in hock to greedy landowners. His words paint a vivid picture of the hard times of old America.:
Been to Arizona, been to California, too,
Found the people was plenty but the jobs was few;
Well maybe it’s like the feller said,
When they ain’t enough work, well, business is dead,
Sorta ailin’. Ain’t no money a changin’ hands, just people changing places. Folks wastin gasoline a’chasin’ around.
Washington Talkin’ Blues
Perhaps his greatest legacy is This Land Is Your Land, which could be seen as an alternative national anthem.
The lines that extol the beauty of the States are not in themselves controversial, but the true implication of the title is only understood when you listen to the lyrics late in the piece:
There was a big high wall there, that tried to stop me,
The sign was painted, said ‘Private Property.
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.
All of this meant that Lutken, in the role of Guthrie, and his three fellow cast members – David Finch, Nyssa Grant and Raquel Chavez – who play everyone else and a 20 different instruments, have set themselves quite a responsibility.
Big responsibility: the cast of Woody Sez are energetic, skilful musicians and impressive actors. Pic: Jake Oseland
They carry it off with a mixture of clever arrangements, impressive musicianship and an overt humanity that pulls the audience through a spectrum of emotions. There is joy here, a lot of it, and there are moments of profound sadness and loss, hope and then heartache, reflecting the turbulent life of Guthrie and the country that he lived in during the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression and political movements that shaped 20th-Century America. .
There is hope in the politics – those fascists were indeed “bound to lose” – but there are sacrifices along the way, both personal and national. Lutkens radiates likeability and I don’t think it is all acting. This helps.
The audience can embrace Guthrie and ride along with him whether they share his anti-capitalist convictions or not (I suspect a fair percentage do). The rest of the cast put in a hard day’s work over one and a half hours and provides a level of energy that means there are no low points at all in this fast-paced production.
One of the most poignant moments is towards the end, a rendition of Plane Wreck (at Los Gatos), about the deaths of immigrants while being forcibly flown back to Mexico.
David Sez: Lutken devised this play as well as playing the lead role. Pic: Roger Mastroianni
It’s the song that Dolly Parton covered on her 9 to 5 album almost 50 years ago. I had only heard it performed before by Joan Baez, and had not associated it with Guthrie.
Watching Woody Sez this week, it was particularly poignant, given the rise of anti-migrant hatred in Britain and the taking control of the streets in Dover and Portsmouth by masked fascists in black shirts.
Guthrie’s paean to deportees as rendered in Woody Sez strikes a powerful chord of hope. If there was a dry eye in the house, I didn’t see one. There was a standing ovation at the end.
Lutken devised the play, and is its musical director. He worked closely with Guthrie’s family for decades, and Woody Sez has been staged with the support of the Guthrie estate, “continuing to introduce new audiences to his timeless songs while preserving the communal spirit and live musicianship at the heart of American folk tradition”, according to the producers.
Ken Sez: go and see it.
It’s on every night until Saturday September 19, with an additional 3pm matinee on Saturdays and 2pm on Sundays. On Thursday September 17, there will be an extended post-performance “hootenanny” in the bar downstairs. Anyone is invited to go and join in. They can even bring their own instruments.
Go along for some light in the darkness and, occasionally, some darkness in the light.
Read more: Up to £1,000 a ticket – make sure you buy an Archers tea towel
Read more: At Croydon’s Fairfield Halls, Abba becomes a five-piece band
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
