Tag Archives: Nicholas Farrell

“The Deep Blue Sea” at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Having attempted suicide at the opening of this 1952 play, Terence Rattigan’s heroine, Hester, is discovered by her neighbours and landlady. These roles (played by Lisa Ambalavanar, Preston Nyman and Selina Cadell) can be overlooked for their exposition and period detail. But Lindsay Posner’s careful revival of the play takes them seriously. Yes, the piece is sure to strike you as old-fashioned – full of stiff upper lips and repression. But the depth of emotions Rattigan depicts is powerful and this production makes the most of a skilful work.

Hester’s desperation comes from her love affair with Freddie, a former fighter pilot she left her respectable life for, abandoning her husband, Bill, who still loves her. Rattigan structures encounters with them between them by turns, in a somewhat stilted manner. But these men aren’t just, respectively, a feckless cad and a successful lawyer. Their emotions run deep and they are confused, even frightened by how much they feel. The results are fascinating portraits of masculinity that Nicholas Farrell and Hadley Fraser explore with skill.

It’s hard not to feel for those who have fallen for Hester – even if they treat her badly. As the object of their affectation, Hester is a commanding role that proves a triumph for Tamsin Greig. With the combination of wit and fragility Rattigan crafted so carefully it is easy to see how she captivates everyone around her in the lodging house (which is a little too shabby in Peter McKintosh’s design). Despite her aloofness and more than a few snide asides, Greig makes us care for Hester. The pain she feels around her love affair is deeply sad.

There is more to Hester than just tragedy. Might this be the key to the enduring appeal of the piece? Here is a female lead who goes beyond being defined by the men in her life (no matter how important a part they play) and it’s Greig’s ability to show this that makes her performance so strong. Hester knows how doomed her relationships are – it accounts for her depression and goes beyond it. Love consumes her, but her passion and lust are never blind.

There’s a final relationship for Hester that highlights the importance of that self-knowledge. Mr Miller is a neighbour who has been struck off as a doctor, who helps and then befriends her. Finbar Lynch, who takes the part, leans into the oddity of the character; it’s uncomfortable at times but shows an appreciation of the part. Rattigan (and Miller) have a view of life that is as bleak as any kitchen sink dramatist’s. There are plenty of links to the author’s painful biography if you want them. But the two outsiders in The Deep Blue Sea find a clear-eyed comfort in one another. The relief this brings to the audience is an indication of how accomplished Posner’s revival is.

Until 21 June 2025

www.trh.co.uk

Photos by Manuel Harlan

“Birdsong” at the Comedy Theatre

Sebastian Faulks’ much-loved 1993 novel, Birdsong, was one of those books you saw everyone reading on the tube. A page-turner with depth, it seemed to cry out for an adaptation. Rachel Wagstaff’s version, now showing at the Comedy Theatre, is a dutiful effort that should please fans of the text.

The stage version certainly doesn’t plod. The first act deals with our hero Stephen Wraysford’s affair with Isabelle Azaire. They fall in love while he is staying with her and her husband in northern France, run off together and then separate, all in fifty minutes. Action then moves to the trenches of the First World War, where we see Stephen as a broken man. The Armistice heralds his final encounter with Isabelle, culminating in a tenuous yet beautiful sense of reconciliation.

Wagstaff packs too much of the novel into the evening and should have been more adventurous with her selection. Like John Napier’s clever design, which literally emphasises the book, the three-hour show seems intimidated by the novel’s success. You start to think a mini-series might have been a better idea: TV would have more time for the story and it would solve the problem of canned birdsong, which is never going to ring true in the theatre.

Trevor Nunn’s direction is fascinating. Nunn has learned lessons from his recent success at the Menier Chocolate Factory where the small size of the venue led to an intense production of A Little Night Music. Now, in Birdsong, he concentrates on the intimate scenes appropriate to a love story. The danger is that these occasionally look a little lost on a West End stage, but the strategy is sound – he is playing to the production’s strengths, namely, the cast.

Birdsong brims with quality performances. Nicholas Farrell plays Isabelle’s betrayed husband and then the Captain who tutors Stephen in the trenches, and handles both roles marvellously. Iain Mitchell has less to do, playing a local French dignitary and the regiment’s Colonel, but he provides some much needed light relief and should be satisfied that he gives the impression of being wasted in both roles.

It’s the leads that make the evening. Ben Barnes plays Wraysford and Genevieve O’Reilly Isabelle. Their chemistry is fantastic and free of period cliché. O’Reilly manages to show the stifling home life she escapes from without protesting too much and maintain sympathy when her actions seem brutal. Barnes is even better, playing a passionate man without giving any time to nonsense about stiff upper lips and coming across as a true individual we warm to. These fresh performances give the play its necessary emotional punch. They are so powerful that suddenly the birdsong sounds genuine after all.

Until 15 January 2011

www.ambassadortickets.com

Photo by Johan Persson

Written 1 October 2010 for The London Magazine