Tag Archives: Nina Raine

“Bach & Sons” at the Bridge Theatre

The biography of composer Johann Sebastian Bach that informs Nina Raine’s new play is interesting. And a star turn from Simon Russell Beale as the musical great makes this play entertaining. But, despite director Nicholas Hytner’s valiant efforts to tell the story, the playwright’s ambitions become a problem.

Raine and Russell Beale – he really is fantastic – make sure we enjoy a character both angry and vulnerable, with a sharp tongue and quick wit. An obsession with “order in all things” and his religiosity show a complex character. All good stuff. But the contrasts in Bach’s temperament find a too-fast parallel in discussions of his work.

The debate about life and art is held, noisily, with his sons – Wilhelm and Carl – composers moving into a new era and men living in their father’s shadow. But it’s the former, rather than a family drama, that is focused on. These sons almost disappear in the discussion Raine wants to start. And the ideas aren’t new or elaborated on particularly well. It’s only the sincerity in the delivery of the argument, from Samuel Blenkin and Douggie McMeekin, that makes any of this interesting.

Pandora Colin, Samuel Blenkin, Simon Russell Beale and Douggie McMeekin in Bach & Sons photo by Manuel Harlan
Pandora Colin, Samuel Blenkin, Simon Russell Beale and Douggie McMeekin

There is more Raine starts to investigate – the idea that a great artist doesn’t have to be a good man. It’s a notion that seems common sense to me but is increasingly debated, so input is welcome. Bach’s family suffers from his obsessions with telling the truth. His wives most of all. There are strong performances from Pandora Colin and Racheal Ofori as Mrs Bach 1 & 2. Raine has written fulsome roles that make these scenes more successful.

Raine tries to mix the high-flown ideas on art with down-to-earth comments (mostly about weight), but the efforts feel like a gesture. Saying one of Bach’s Passions was received like a “turd in a tureen” gets a laugh… but too briefly. Bach & Sons does build in power, there are moving moments with Russell Beale’s uncanny ability to show his character aging. But all the discussions of music and meaning, counterpoint and chaos, end up close to platitudes. The result is a piece that is disappointingly one note.

Until 11 September 2021

www.bridgetheatre.co.uk

Photos by Manuel Harlan

“Consent” at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Nina Raine’s play, a hit transfer from the National Theatre, is exciting new writing. The crafted yet uncontrived piece illustrates how much a talented author can juggle, and Consent is a play full of seemingly contradictory qualities that combine into great theatre.

The plot is a too-simple story of infidelities – a pretty tried and tired topic – as a group of friends, mostly lawyers, make a mess of their marriages. But their motivations, and how their lives change, give the story complexity. It’s essentially a talking heads piece, set around drinks parties and a courtroom drama, but it bristles with an unnerving dynamism.

The theatricality of the law is a blunt point, frequently made, but Raine treats it with finesse. Are the characters’ careers a toxic pollutant of their private lives? Or are the successful barristers closer to their clients than they – or we – would like to think? Raine challenges her – let’s face it – middle-class audience in a sophisticated fashion, laying bare some pretty tawdry emotions with sophistication.

The play couldn’t be more topical. The discussions around consensual sex are only a part of it: the work-life balance of these high flyers is in the news, including their drug abuse, while the obsession with property – and sofas – is tiresomely recognisable. Opposed to this, the battles between the sexes and the classes that Raine highlights makes a claim to be universal: Greek theatre is in the background and makes a fascinating parallel to her work.

Consent is a think piece, cerebral to a fault, with discussions about justice, guilt, repentance and atonement. Yet the play is as emotionally intense as you could wish, with broken hearts all around and characters driven to crazed revenge.

As you might expect with so many abstract ideas, this is serious stuff. But (another contradiction) the play is full of great laughs. Not just dark humour, either – some of the jokes are surprisingly childish and it’s a shock to hear laughs so close to such dark subject matter.

Heather Craney and Stephen Campbell Moore 

The strong material is meat and drink to the talented cast. Stephen Campbell Moore and and Claudie Blakley are superb as the leading couple Edward and Kitty. There’s strong support from Adam James and Sian Clifford as their friends, while Heather Craney takes two roles with equal assurance. A final accolade goes to director Roger Michell, who tackles Raine’s superb text with such assurance. He’s bold enough to bring out all the tension and subtle enough to show each complexity.

Until 11 August 2018

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Photo by Johan Persson

“Tiger Country” at the Hampstead Theatre

Having a playwright direct their own work might set off sirens – their proximity to the text risks a self-indulgent treatment. But it is a false alarm at the Hampstead Theatre, where Nina Raine faultlessly breathes life into Tiger Country. The vision she has for her work has proved contagious, transforming the auditorium and empowering an ensemble cast to perform superbly.

Raine is known for her extensive research. She spent three months with doctors and nurses to prepare for this new play about the NHS. The politics are subtle, the drama of surgery intense, and the focus is the impact the job has on its practitioners.

Emily, a just qualified Senior House Doctor, encounters expressive dysphasia (‘when you know what to say but you can’t say it’), and not just in her patients. Ruth Everett skilfully portrays this eager intern, on whom the pressure of her decisions starts to weigh physically.

The internal politics of the NHS also take their toll. Vashti, a Registrar, faces the dilemma of giving up her career path when a member of her family is mistreated in the hospital. Thusitha Jayasundera is wonderful in the role. Like many of the surgeons she seems a most unsympathetic character, but her bedside manner reveals a moving, tender side.

The dangers surrounding the doctor’s decisions mean they live in ‘tiger country’ – always on the edge. Pip Carter and Henry Lloyd-Hughes show this tension admirably. With an eye to class, and an obsession with hierarchy, these medics are forced to role play and sometimes behave like animals; it’s a fight for them to retain their humanity and a sense of gratitude for life.

Raine’s script in infinitely richer that your average hospital drama. Her insights make the play a rare beast indeed – informative. Yet it is the lives of these well-drawn characters from which the drama radiates. There’s enough sex and death here for any soap. This is Casualty on steroids. Alongside its other admirable qualities, Tiger Country is hugely entertaining.

Until 5 February 2011

www.hampsteadtheatre.com

Photo by Robert Workman

Written 20 January 2011 for The London Magazine