SINGLE WHITE FEMALE
From walking into the theatre itself there was an air of promise about this production. On her last visit here Kym Marsh was genuinely impressive as the bunny boiling predator in Fatal Attraction and it was clear that previous success made her a good choice for the role of Hedy in this equally dark movie transposition to the live stage. Lisa Faulkner comes with an impressive track record too with a wide ranging list of TV credits to her name before seeing her on TV boiling puddings rather than bunnies.
So where does this brand new production start to shed that promise. Let me start with the set. It depicts a slick and modern high rise apartment, sleek minimal lines, expensive looking furniture, high tech spec and impressive views. So why is it that gay friend and work colleague Graham, once he has convinced her to advertise online for a “lodger”, makes her change the word flat to apartment. This is clearly an apartment and an expensive one. The apartment though is, we are told, full of problems, none of them visible. None that we can see anyway, it looks great, far from shabby and the only evidence that there might be issues is the sudden booming crashing sound which we are led to believe is the lift. Now frankly that off stage sound effect is so terrifyingly loud that it sows a seed of disbelief. Exaggeration is one thing, of course soundscapes can enhance a production and set a mood, but no sane person would ever rent a flat, sorry apartment, in a high rise where the lift makes a noise that sounds like the onset of Armageddon?
It is this overblown setting and soundscape that throws the whole production off kilter, nothing is going to pull it back from the edge of unbelievable despite the best efforts of a cast trying to make us accept their circumstances.
The same can be said of some of the costumes too, Hedy has to wear some of Allies clothes as part of the plot. Were both actors of a similar build that could work… but they are not and better choices of garment would have been a far more sensible route for the designer to take surely?
By now you will note that I am questioning so many of the production decisions made here and it is this factor that for me takes away from what might have been an excellent evening of theatre. The bringing forward in time of the story and placing it in the UK works well, references to internet grooming, body politics and weight control drugs sit well in bringing things up to date. But throughout the cast are fighting against a thunderous soundscape and overbearing lighting effects. They all do a good enough job of delivering the lines and creating the characters. Kym Marsh is convincingly manipulative, sugary sweet and confident one minute and darkly sinister the next. Lisa Faulkner, a woman damaged by a failed marriage and the trials of raising a teenage daughter who in turn is coping with bullying in a school she hates. Amy Snudden is good as daughter Bella, shifting from fragile child to rebellious young woman with confident ease. Andro is Graham, Allie’s gay business partner and friend, a depiction that as friend works well but as gay man leans so heavily on stereotypical camp that it errs on lazy. Not necessarily the actors choice and maybe the director at work. Johnny McGarrity is alcoholic womanising husband Sam, the root of the whole situation, arrogant and clearly in denial about the impact of his behaviour on his ex wife and daughter. Collectively they could make this work if they were not hampered by the overblown staging and dare I say it, clumsy direction of the whole. You start to sense that things on stage are not working when huge swathes of the audience start to laugh and giggle. Not that laughter borne of fear but from silliness.
And silliness abounds in the second half when things come to a head. An incident with a shoe, Allie recognising a heavily disguised Hedy from behind, Graham staggering in covered in blood and Bella emerging from the sort of low lying cupboard that you would find under the stairs in a Victorian terraced house.
Feydeau is long dead, as is Brian Rix, but farce is alive and kicking in this misguided and wasted opportunity.
Andrew Kay
13 January
Theatre Royal Brighton
Rating:
