Landor Theatre, London
EXCERPT: "Watching the Landor theatre's version of the play, it becomes evident
that though Stenham's script is impressive, it is quite reliant on a having an exceptionally talented cast and crew."
Polly Stenham got a name in the industry and an Olivier nomination for
her first play That Face, which premiered at The Royal Court in 2007.
Watching the Landor theatre's version of the play, it becomes evident
that though Stenham's script is impressive, it is quite reliant on having an exceptionally talented cast and crew.
The play is about an incredibly dysfunctional but privileged family and is full of characters and relationships so extreme as to be almost unrecognisable. And whilst really top notch actors could show off the charisma and presence of such characters whilst still retaining an understated quality, in Tara Robinson's Landor version the tendencies towards over-exaggeration and emotional signposting means that the characters are too often reduced to stereotypes. Just as I simply didn't believe in the bullying of the first scene, so there were moments of falsity throughout the piece that prevented my emotional engagement with it.
The play opens with some boarding school bullying that goes too far. If I didn't know better I'd have assumed that Stenham had never had any contact with boarding school life and was working off a misguided stereotype. Izzy, played by Georgina Leonidas, comes across as a totally ridiculous and unbelievable character, but the truthfulness of her partner in crime Mia, and the very fine acting ability of Stephanie Hyam who played her, made me realise that actually it is that Stenham's characters require a very careful touch to avoid such stereotyping. The problem I had with Izzy's character was more to do with Leonidas' simplistic and over-dramatic performance of the part. This bullying is the catalyst for Mia's return home to her mentally unstable alcoholic mother, who is being supported on a daily basis by Mia's older brother Henry, who has dropped out of school in order to coax her back to health. Henry and his mother are close - very close. There are clearly slightly incestuous hints to be found in the text, but this production really rams them down your throat. It's a shame, because I feel that audiences are most likely to feel uncomfortable and unnerved when it's all a bit uncertain. And while the production was definitely gripping and entertaining - as it almost couldn't fail to be given the crazily interesting plot and characters - it never affected me in the way it could have done had all the actors (not only Hyam) employed the subtlety and nuance I feel the writing really craved.
The play is about an incredibly dysfunctional but privileged family and is full of characters and relationships so extreme as to be almost unrecognisable. And whilst really top notch actors could show off the charisma and presence of such characters whilst still retaining an understated quality, in Tara Robinson's Landor version the tendencies towards over-exaggeration and emotional signposting means that the characters are too often reduced to stereotypes. Just as I simply didn't believe in the bullying of the first scene, so there were moments of falsity throughout the piece that prevented my emotional engagement with it.
The play opens with some boarding school bullying that goes too far. If I didn't know better I'd have assumed that Stenham had never had any contact with boarding school life and was working off a misguided stereotype. Izzy, played by Georgina Leonidas, comes across as a totally ridiculous and unbelievable character, but the truthfulness of her partner in crime Mia, and the very fine acting ability of Stephanie Hyam who played her, made me realise that actually it is that Stenham's characters require a very careful touch to avoid such stereotyping. The problem I had with Izzy's character was more to do with Leonidas' simplistic and over-dramatic performance of the part. This bullying is the catalyst for Mia's return home to her mentally unstable alcoholic mother, who is being supported on a daily basis by Mia's older brother Henry, who has dropped out of school in order to coax her back to health. Henry and his mother are close - very close. There are clearly slightly incestuous hints to be found in the text, but this production really rams them down your throat. It's a shame, because I feel that audiences are most likely to feel uncomfortable and unnerved when it's all a bit uncertain. And while the production was definitely gripping and entertaining - as it almost couldn't fail to be given the crazily interesting plot and characters - it never affected me in the way it could have done had all the actors (not only Hyam) employed the subtlety and nuance I feel the writing really craved.
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