Old Vic
Review by Holly Barradell
What a start to the second in-the-round season at the Old Vic Theatre! For the audience, watching a play about the tension of family life combined with family politics in-the-round was simply the perfect choice. Sitting in the stalls within such close proximity added to the intimacy.
The set design (Robert Innes-Hopkins) was superbly versatile and authentic. I watched in amazement at how the intense drama unravelled within just the living room of this Palm Springs home.
Beforehand, I flicked through the programme looking for a synopsis of the play to prepare myself for what I was about to see. I am pleased I didn’t find one. Within minutes you are launched into the story of the seemingly perfect Wyeth family arriving home from a tennis game; it is not long before this image starts to unravel and a dark secret begins to emerge.
Brooke, an author, is recovering from a long stint in hospital due to depression caused by the turmoil of her older brother Henry’s earlier suicide, which she has made the subject of her latest book.
She reveals this bombshell on Christmas Eve to her parents, Aunt Silda (Claire Higgins) and brother Trip. Until that moment, the mood was upbeat: the comedy coming from the excellent timing of the actors. But the real roars of laughter start when Silda enters. She and her sister Polly (Sinead Cusack) have an entertaining sibling rivalry. They come from either ends of the scale with their personalities and political views, their clashes on stage are highly entertaining.
The rapport that Silda has with her niece Brooke (Martha Plimpton) is heart-warming but you soon start to see a rift emerging with Polly, who is mortified by the news of Brooke’s all-revealing memoir.
Once this is revealed to their parents and the tension starts to mount, Lindsay Posner’s directing comes into a league of its own. The clever use of triangles within the blocking highlights the division within the family.
The information that is brought to light in Act 2 takes the audience on a whole new rollercoaster and you are left to reassess everything that went before. The depth and subtext of Jon Robin Baitz’s ingenious play will leave you questioning all the way to the end.
A wonderfully crafted performance on all levels and deeply absorbing.