Andrew Barth Feldman’s performance as Nero drives the Southwark Playhouse production. After making his Broadway debut in Dear Evan Hansen at sixteen, he now makes his London stage debut. His youthful appearance and clear voice are especially effective for a character who gains enormous power so young.
“The emperor who fiddled while Rome burned.” This notorious image follows Nero’s name. The new musical Nero at Southwark Playhouse Elephant looks beyond it. Behind the cruel emperor stands an anxious young man. He is a son seeking approval and an artist hungry for applause. Song and dance invite us to look again at a familiar historical figure.
Spring Awakening collaborators Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik wrote the book and lyrics, and the music, respectively. Lindsay Posner directs this production from Park Myung-Sung and South Korea’s Seensee Company. The work began in 2003 and first reached the stage at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre in 2006. Seensee joined in 2022 and helped develop the piece through further workshops and revisions.
In the programme, Park points to the pursuit of power and the ways history repeats itself. He sees ancient Rome reflected in today’s world. As a Korean ...