“You won’t believe what a bad little sweetheart she could be”
Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Graham Greene’s first
play The Living Room hasn’t been revived in the UK since opening in 1953 so
Primavera’s revival for the Jermyn Street Theatre offers a rare chance to
experience Greene the playwright. After the death of her mother, 20 year old
Rose Pemberton is taken to live with her deeply Catholic elderly uncle and
aunts by a 45 year old friend of her long-dead father, a married psychology
professor named Michael. An illicit affair has started between the pair which
throws them into direct conflict with the traditional views of her new
household and the repercussions of the actions of all concerned result in
catastrophic consequences.
At the heart of the story is the newly orphaned Rose, an accomplished stage
debut from Tuppence Middleton with a lovely blend of cut-glass properness and
spirited rebelliousness as she strains against society’s conventions in the
single-minded pursuit of her ill-starred affair yet not so devoid of emotion
that she disregards her only remaining family completely. Christopher Villiers
as the professor feels a little miscast as he never really brings to bear any
sense of what it is that might have ensnared Rose’s affections so, but his
attempts to rationalise the behaviour around him and justify his own using the
psychology he teaches have a pugnacious persuasiveness.
Where the show really excels though is in showing the world that Rose is so
stifled and horrified by. Cherry Truluck’s design of claustrophobic and faded
domesticity sits perfectly in the intimacy of the Jermyn Street Theatre and
occupied by the ageing siblings, it perfectly represents the stultifying
environment she cannot bear to be trapped in. In a morbid twist, after the
death of any member of the household, their room is closed off permanently and
so the sense of this being a dying breed is keenly felt, the name of the
titular living room gaining greater significance.
Christopher Timothy is perhaps a little too placid as the overly symbolic
Father James, trapped in a wheelchair for 20 years and slowly losing his faith,
but there is exemplary work from the two actresses playing his sisters. Diane
Fletcher’s Aunt Helen captures the right note of corrosive fundamentalism that
burns as much as it blesses and Caroline Blakiston is most affecting as the
frailer Aunt Teresa, fragile but wise and altogether a stunning performance.
As one might expect from as eloquent a writer as Greene, there’s a measured
steadiness to the writing which contrasts the antiquated world of blind faith
with a more modern take based on reason, director Tom Littler imbuing these
debates with a conviction and intensity which brings life to this one-room
drama. The belated arrival of Michael’s wife prefigures an atypical late burst
of action which veers into the melodramatic but the shock value is well earned
and in the aftermath, the power of this morality tale is truly felt.
Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes (with interval)
Programme cost: £2.50
Booking until 30th March
Labels: Abigail Tophill, Caroline Blakiston, Christopher Timothy, Christopher Villiers, Diane Fletcher, Emma Davies, Graham Greene, Tuppence Middleton