Candida

by Bernard Shaw

seen at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond on 28 November 2019

Paul Miller directs Martin Hutson as the Rev James Mavor Morell, Claire Lams as his wife Candida, Michael Simkins as his father-in-law Mr Burgess, Sarah Middleton as Miss Proserpine Garnett ('Prossey'), his secretary, Kwaku Mills as the Rev Alexander Mill, his curate, and Joseph Potter as Mr Eugene Marchbanks, an 18-year-old poet who is also a family friend. This is Paul Miller's fourth revival of an early Shaw play in the last five years; I've seen two others and this, like them, is excellent.

When the Crows Visit

by Anupama Chandrasekhar

seen at the Kiln Theatre on 13 November 2019

Indhu Rubasingham directs this new play, with Ayesha Dharker as Hema, Bally Gill as her son Akshar, and Soni Razdan as her mother-in-law Jaya. Clearly inspired by Ibsen's Ghosts the play provides (if that were possible) an even more bleak view of family dynamics. Where in Ibsen's play young Osvald Avling is for the most part a victim of circumstances, destroyed both mentally and physically by the ghosts surrounding him, in this play Akshay, the son of the house, perpetuates the cycle of male violence endemic in the family. 

The brutal compromises forced on women in a society in which men dominate and divorce is unthinkable even in the face of physical violence lie behind the constant bickering and unease between Hema, widowed now but still reliant on her husband's reputation to protect the family name, and Jaya, an apparently indulgent and borderline senile woman who uses her frailty to shield herself from her own painful memories. Relying on mythic archetypes to justify her past actions, and hoping that they will still guide her in dealing with her grandson, Jaya is a woman barely able to recognise that she has colluded in her own misery. Hema, realising that her son has become a monster too like his father, perhaps is on the verge of breaking the pattern - but at this point the play stops, so we cannot know if she is successful. In the meantime Akshay has degenerated from a somewhat rootless and none-too-successful young man in the big city, to a quite repellently vicious level. Just a quirky twist of the mouth can turn a naive smile to a cynical sneer with quite chilling effect.

The Watsons

by Laura Wade

seen at the Menier Chocolate Factory on 10 November 2019

Samuel West directs this adaptation of Jane Austen's unfinished novel, with Grace Molony as Emma Watson and Loiuse Ford as Laura and a large supporting cast in a production designed by Ben Stones. The play was originally performed in Chichester, and is due for a transfer to the West End (as are so many of the Menier's successful productions).

Jane Austen began this novel in 1804, but chose not to complete it. There are some scrappy hints of her intentions, but no real explanation of why it was abandoned - a field day for an enthusiastic adapter.The play sets the scene, a predictable and enjoyable story of a young girl in reduced circumstances making her way in a social setting rich with possibilities for Austen's characteristically waspish observations about custom, propriety and marriage prospects. Emma has been brought up by a wealthy relative, and then discarded to be returned to her father's house just as the father is declining towards death; she has to cope with an older sister who has devoted herself to their father, a more flighty sister, and a married brother with a snobbish wife. She attracts the interest of the inarticulate Lord Osborne, and also has an easy familiarity with the clergyman attached to the Osborn estate.

Vassa

by Maxim Gorky adapted by Mike Bartlett

seen at the Almeida Theatre on 8 November 2019

Tinuke Craig directs Siobhán Redmond as the matriarch Vassa with Amber James as her daughter Anna, Arthur Hughes and Danny Kirrane as her sons Pavel and Semyon, Michael Gould as her brother-in-law Prokhor and Cyil Nri as her manager Mikhail. Sophie Wu played Lyudmila, Pavel's wife, Kayla Meikle was Natalya, Semyon's wife, and Alexandra Dowling and Daniella Isaacs played the two servants Lipa and Dunya.

In a versatile set designed by Fly Davis, unusually making use of a curtain in this theatre, and allowing for multiple entrance points reminiscent of a farce, the fate of capitalism is played out in miniature as Vassa attepts to preserve the family fortunes from collapse in the face of her husband's imminent death, her brother-in-law's rapacity, and her sons' incompetence. Indeed the staging encourages a view that we are watching a farce, as people erupt on stage, having been eavesdropping at the doors, or else appearing totally unaware of the crisis into which they are plummeting. Vassa herself holds the stage (she is usually on stage) with imperious determination, and even in her absence most people are fearfully aware of her authority.

Hansard

by Simon Woods

seen by live streaming from the National Theatre (Lyttleton) on 7 November 2019

Simon Godwin directs Alex Jennings as Robin Hesketh (MP and junior Cabinet Minister) and Lindsay Duncan as his wife Diana in an intense drama which begins almost innocuously as social or political comedy set in May 1988, in the week that the Local Government Act including the notorious section 28 was passed into law.

Robin returns to the marital home in the Cotswolds on the Saturday morning after the crucial vote to find Diana still not dressed, and a familiar sparring begins in which it becomes clear that she has nothing but scorn for the role of politician's wife, and, even more difficult for her husband, little sympathy with Tory policy or the general outlook of her husband.  The arguments are presumably well worn in the house, but still engaged on both sides with some degree of passion mixed with the sort of resigned weariness that allows the audience to be amused.

Solaris

by David Greig from Stanislav Lem's novel

seen at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith on 31 October 2019

Matthew Lutton directs Polly Frame as Dr Kris Kelvin, Keegan Joyce as Ray, Jade Ogugua as Dr Sartorius, Fode Simbo as Dr Snow and Hugo Weaving (on video) as Professor Gibarian in this new adaptation of the 1961 science fiction novel, which has been twice adapted for the cinema, in 1972 (Tarkovsky directing) and in 2002 (Soderberg directing, George Clooney starring). Actually, I also saw an intense and strange theatrical version presented at Nottingham University in 1980.

The premise of the story is that the members of a scientific expedition orbiting the planet Solaris have strange 'visitors', taking the form of people from their past lives, which are presumed to be the attempt of the vast planetary ocean to contact the humans. The play opens with the arrival of Dr Kelvin on the station; she has arrived after the death of her mentor Professor Gibarian, who has left her some tapes; only Drs Snow and Sartorius are left. Kris Kelvin's 'visitor' is a past lover, Ray, an attractive oceanographer whom she dated in her student days but later lost touch with. (In the book and films, Dr Kelvin is male, and his visitor female.)