Tag Archives: Amanda Abbington

“(This Is Not A) Happy Room” at the King’s Head Theatre

While Rosie Day’s new play might suit a screen more than a stage it is entertaining and well-acted. As the dysfunctional Henderson family meets for a super stressful wedding, we get to enjoy larger-than-life characters, most of whom are successfully drawn, which a talented cast gets the most out of. The play has just enough good jokes, many propelled to laugh-out-loud level by the performers.

There are three siblings here, all of whom are damaged. The very funny Andrea Valls plays control freak Laura, Jonny Weldon’s Simon is an accomplished hypochondriac, while Day herself takes the role of Elle, a young and successful actress she is a bit hard on. A nostalgia for the late 1990s is shot through the play, which narrows its potential audience, as does the class of the characters, but Day clearly knows her stuff and the observations are decent if not surprising.

Amanda Abbington in "(This is not a) Happy Room"
Amanda Abbington

A trio of secondary roles are less successful (husband, demented aunt and psychologist) despite the efforts of Tom Kanji, Alison Linley and Jazz Jenkins. These parts also get laughs but, as we spend less time with them, they feel flatter. All three are balanced by another late arrival – Amanda Abbington, as the magnificent mother, who excels with her Waspish stiff upper lip. Abbington makes every one of her lines land.

There are flashes of profundity to the script that raise interest but struggle to convince as they lack consistency and, being scattered around, provoke a rambling feel. A similar problem comes with several big plot twists. While it’s impressive that these change the comedic feel less than they might (the jokes carry on) the gags aren’t quite as good. Revelations come a little too thick and fast, adding to the sense of a script that’s a tad out of control. It’s still far more celebration than commiseration but, like the events in the play itself, a bit more planning might have been beneficial.

Until 27 April 2025

www.kingsheadtheare.com

"The Son" at the Duke of York’s Theatre

Playwright Florian Zeller has had phenomenal success bringing his brand of smart French panache to the British stage. But this new work, another hit and this time a transfer from the Kiln Theatre, is different. With plays like The Father, Zeller experimented with perceptions of reality, while his comedy about adultery, The Truth, used twisting perspectives and audience expectations to get grown-up laughs. For The Son, Zeller abandons any tricksy touches: he presents a stripped back, almost simple, play that is a harrowing story of mental health.

The acting is irreproachable. Taking the title role, Laurie Kynaston gives a career defining portrayal as troubled teen Nicholas. Like the text, and Michael Longhurst’s direction, Kynaston shows great control. There are outbursts of anger but bad behaviour is in the background. Nicholas’ problem is an inexplicable unhappiness he simply can’t articulate and that makes it all the more frustrating and moving.

Laurie Kinston in 'The Son'
Laurie Kynaston

The adults dealing with his illness suffer too. If Zeller hadn’t already used the title previously, this piece could easily be named after Nicholas’ father, a major role that John Light excels with. As with the mother, played by Amanda Abbington, there’s a sense of panic and fear that adds tension to the play. Both parental roles, complicated by their recent divorce, are depicted with care and attention. 

Arguably the pivotal character, who has, like the audience, a little more distance from Nicholas, is his step-mother Sofia. It’s a fantastic part for Amaka Okafor who shows a woman trying to warm to the youngster, who unexpectedly ends up living with her, but who is also scared of him. The awful moment when Nicholas overhears what she thinks of him is balanced by her steely resolve not to let him babysit his new born step-brother. 

Sofia shows how Zeller has mined the psychological complexity in his scenario. The characters’ reactions aid an uncanny ability to make the most mundane questions fraught. Longhurst’s direction compliments the technique and the tension is frequently uncomfortable. If ever a play needed a trigger warning this is it, and I suppose a plot spoiling alert is needed too…

John Light, Amanda Abbington and Laurie Kynaston
John Light, Amanda Abbington and Laurie Kynaston

This is a tale of teenage suicide and in the play the outcome comes as no surprise. Given that Zeller can cover the tracks in a plot better than most this must be deliberate. That the play is so predictable adds a sense of doom from very early on. But while it seems a trivial point in this context, that doesn’t help the play dramatically. The outcome is particularly grim and some key decisions made by the adults in Nicholas’ life are, let us hope, unrealistic. Nicholas only becomes increasingly inexplicable – a fair point but one that is truly dismal. Of course Zeller doesn’t have to sugar any pill, but he also raises hope to dash it in a final scene which comes across as cruel. There’s no doubting the power of Zeller’s writing here – all the five star reviews have recognised it – but in abandoning his usual brilliance for the sake of a brutal power, a warning about the play does need to be issued.

Until 2 November 2019

www.thesonwestend.com

Photos by  Marc Brenner