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Lyonesse

 


When: 25th November 2023 (Matinee)

Where: Harold Pinter Theatre, London

Writer: Penelope Skinner

Director: Ian Rickson


(This review was written months later)


When this play was announced I was excited, the story sounded promising. Yet, I think this was possibly one of the worst plays I have seen. 

Firstly, I want to mention, that there must have been something in the script that tempted both Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James to do the play. What that is I'm not sure, but I do feel for them.  The writing for this play is poor, its main issue is a lack of human connection. They are both brilliant actors, and you can tell that they are trying really hard with the text they are given. Whilst there are a few moments where they shine, for the most part the speech is a slog that even the actors struggle to make believable or interesting. 

There are a few moments that I remember clearly and not because they were good. Firstly, towards the beginning of the play Elaine (Scott Thomas) says she is going to tell us her story. In a mad and eccentric costume she makes her way to a microphone, for the next 20 minutes she proceeds to tell us her story. Yet the eccentricity is immediately lost she stands there, still, speaking in almost monotone. Secondly, the final moments of the first half. For that brief moment before the interval, the play turned into some sort of slapstick. Kate (James) spills hot tea on her lap, then trying to take off her trousers, trips on a lamp which sets fire... to the fire place. It held no purpose in the narrative of the play, and was funny in how utterly confusing and poor the moment was. Just why?

My main issue with this play lies in the narrative itself. Throughout the play we (kind of) explore women's rights, through both Elaine and Kates careers. Kate's husband appears to be pressuring her to have another baby, but she is terrified not only of birth itself but also losing her career. This is a genuine topic that could be explored in the play, the MeToo movement. Yet after trying to run away with her child to live with Elaine in Cornwall and asking for a divorce, in a brief moment of empowerment, in the end we flash forward to see Kate, pregnant and back with her husband. It left me confused as to what was the actual purpose of the play, what was the guiding narrative if she just ended up doing everything she said she didn't want to. I have considered that fact that perhaps the writer is intending on making a statement about the fact that women's rights haven't really improved or that the MeToo movement didn't really work, but if that's the case it needed to be made much more obvious through the course of the rest of the play. 

I also had no idea what Elaine's (Scott Thomas) Taxidermy birds were about. Was that another commentary on the trapped nature of women in society?

I never trust reviews, often I don't agree with them at all, everyone has their own opinions after all. After reading the negative reviews I really wanted them to be proved wrong, but after seeing it, if anything I think they were justified or too nice. 

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