The original production – as seen at The Royal Court – December 2009 – reposted as it’s being staged in a new production at The Ambassadors Theatre.
Mike Barlett’s play is strong, with sparking dialogue, but it’s the acting that really compelled.
I did book to see Ben Whishaw on stage (not having seen his Hamlet and having missed him in Katie Mitchell’s The Idiot at the NT last year) but it was Andrew Scott’s performance that blew me away. While Whishaw was the lead – and the only character named (John, whereas Scott is M and Katherine Parkinson W) it was Scott’s performance that gripped me.
He was mesmerising as the heart-broken, exasperated lover of a younger man, who is indecisive and easily swayed. The shock of the play is supposed to be that John – while taking a break from his relationship with M – meets W (M for man, W for women respectively). But, if one views the play outside the labels of sexuality, straight, gay, bi it becomes a tale of two people both in love with a young man who clings to a passive aggressive stance; so unable to choose that, in the confrontational second act of the play, John/Whishaw actually lies down on the stage and just… waits, as if divine inspiration will help him choose between continuing his relationship with M, or moving forward into a more conventional life with W.
Part of the power of the piece undoubtedly came from the choreography, which was made all the more potent because the Royal Court staged the performance in a very small space, in the round. The green dot that marked the stage itself would fit into a moderate sized living room and, when sat on the lower tear of amphitheatrical seating (as I was) you could literally reach out and touch the actors.
It was terribly disconcerting to be so close, to have the fourth wall melt at my fingertips. Not only did I see the actors imbue the characters, but that person was then crying less than half an arms length away from me, Andrew Scott moving himself to real tears. Really, really disconcerting and unnerving, which added to the power of the play as the feeling of unease, created in the viewer, echoes the characters own.
It all culminates over a confrontational dinner that wouldn’t be out of place in a Noel Coward play, with John’s male lover, his female competition and M’s widowed father meeting for dinner. Mike Barlett’s play is strong, with sparking dialogue, but it’s the acting that really compelled.