This was an evening of great acting, although the opening scene between the parents of the main character felt a little in need of a warm-up. They were divorcees and their son, Nicholas, was the subject of their concern having been truanting from school. Things just got worse from there on with the son - excellently played by Laurie Kynaston ending up in a psychiatric hospital before his parents - who never wast to acknowledge the true extent and severity of his problems - discharge him only for this to lead to the inevitable suicide.
A jolly evening it was not. In fact it was almost unremitting gloom and disorder with Nicholas regularly trashing the stage. It made me think I was glad not to have children but I don't suppose that was the intended takeaway by the French writer Florian Zeller. The reason behind Nicholas's depression is never resolved - was it the divorce of his parents or was his aberrant behaviour inherited? - His father in some ways mirrored his moments of passion, throwing furniture around at one point.
All the acting was good, benefiting from well-written parts - The stepmother played by Amaka Okafor came across particularly memorably, combining a certain 'not wholly my problem' attitude together with protectiveness towards her son from the new relationship with Nicholas's father. However, I did not think the play itself matched the earlier The Father by Zeller satged when the Kiln was The Tricycle.
No comments:
Post a Comment