The Living Room
Sat, 9th Mar 13
Graham Greene's early 1950's play is set in a staunchly Catholic household forced to confront "the new" and eventually itself. Three unmarried siblings, a now disabled priest and his two sisters, prepare to welcome into their home their recently orphaned young and innocent niece. But nothing is as it seems. The Father, although still a believer, feels crippled spiritually and emotionally, the hose is far from welcoming with many of the rooms closed and unused and the niece is far from innocent having embarked on an affair with a married man. Of course, being Graham Greene, it is more complex than that, in fact that is part of the delight of this piece; the characters are genuine, believable, three-dimensional and idiosyncratic. Again, being Graham Greene, this is a "Catholic" piece where religion, or rather the Catholic church, is a central character and protagonist.
To fully get the play one must remember that, in 1952/3 (just before I was born!) when this play was written and first produced, divorce was rare in the general population (around 400 across the country per year) and pretty well impossible in the Catholic church. Rose, the underage (17!) niece, is caught between living in sin with her married (and much older) lover, giving him up and staung true to the church's teachings or hoping for a divorce. In her innocence she wants to chose the path of instant happiness and pleds with her lover not to make her think about what she's doing, just let her do it. The tensions between her, at the time shocking, openness and the remaining characters reticence causes much of the tension though curiously it is her uncle, the now wheelchair bound priest, who has the most human sympathy even though in the end lacks a solution she can accept.
Cherry Truluck has built a claustrophic single room set into the newly organised, but still tight, space of the Jermyn Street Theatre but with plenty of interest and space and I was so delighted that Tom Littler allowed his cast to sit with their backs to the fourth wall and speak naturally into the room, refreshing and perfectly acceptable, I have seen too much "turn to the front when you're speaking" acting recently!
For me, Tom Littler captured the essence of this piece and the actors gave truly believable performances; helped by the intimacy of the space we felt we were looking in through the wall, spying on a family in turmoil, seeing them at their unguarded lives. I particularly enjoyed the "men together" scenes with Christopher Timothy and Christopher Villiers alone, trying to make sense of the situation. Tuppence Middleton as Rose gave a pitch perfect performance, this is her theatre debut but I don;t think its the last we'll see of this actress. The sisters, Caroline Blakiston and Diane Fletcher gave depth to the production and whilst Emma Davies had little time on stage as the hurt wife it was a powerful and emotional performance, I pity her knees over the coming run as she literally throws herself into this part! The maid is played by Abigail Toghill, completing the seven strong cast. And I do mean 'strong'.
I'm happy to have made the drive up from the west country to see such a delightful piece of theatre. Sad though it is, and one that makes you think and tralk afterwards.
