★★★★★

“sensitively scripted and staged”

When novelist Tawni O’Dell’s daughter was raped, her first instinct was not to write about it. Only through a one-off session with a psychiatrist was the seed planted that perhaps, after a career of writing fiction, writing something based on her own experience might help to process the event. The result is When It Happens to You, a play that details a family’s experience dealing with trauma, not as a family drama, but more as an extended monologue. Each perspective is told first hand, with only rare moments played out in representative scenes for the audience, the transition between introspection and dramatisation indicated by subtle lighting cues against a simple representation of the New York City skyline (Sherry Coenen).

The play uses the rape – as the title suggests – as something that happened. Amanda Abbington plays Tara, representing Tawni O’Dell who played herself in the original Off-Broadway staging. Abbington talks about it as an event that happened in the past, matter of factly, in the past tense. This is exemplified early on with a repeated refrain to set the scene: “the night my daughter was raped…”. The drama of the piece unfolds in the aftermath, showing how, in the words of Tara, the event metastasizes to become the most significant event in her daughter Esme’s life, despite her protestations. As a result, the event permanently alters the mind and relationships of Esme, her mother and brother, Connor.

Despite the grim subject matter the piece doesn’t feel too heavy or overplayed. If anything, moments of cognitive dissonance between how Tara thinks and how she acts create humour, easing the audience in with the juxtaposition of a horrifying 3am phone call and the mundanity of looking for a missing cat. Later, in her one visit to a ‘shrink’ he incisively points out that she uses humour to hide her pain.

Performances are strong all round. Whilst the piece is primarily told to the audience from Tara’s perspective, Director Jez Bond keeps the cast on stage throughout, reacting in character to Tara, with each of her children having a moment to address the audience directly.

When people talk about Esme (Rosie Day), they express worry, frustration and pain. But when Day addresses the audience, she expresses hope found in the colour yellow. Miles Molan as ‘the little prince’ and scientific genius Connor doesn’t skirt around the issue in his monologue, with a frankly rational yet incisive observation that it’s not just the wound of the attack that plagues Esme, but the additional fear of becoming a social pariah when people find out what happened to her. Tok Stephen’s impact belies his rather limited stage time, playing all other male roles with finesse, adeptly switching between a hardened New York detective, a Tony-winning love interest of Tara, and a $300-per-hour psychiatrist.

Slight inconsistencies in plot and performance can be excused given the powerful nature of the piece with its intimate portrayal of a family in crisis. Whilst the narrative is strong for its specificity, it equally finds strength in being a statistically widespread experience. 1 in 4 women have experienced rape or sexual assault. A staggering statistic, confirmed by Rape Crisis England & Wales, that makes this sensitively scripted and staged piece one to watch.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

★★★★★

“an electrifying mix of tradition and tragedy, with the flashes of humour searing through it like bolts of lightning”

Towards the end of the first act of “Fiddler on the Roof”, the sun is gently sinking behind the trees of Regent’s Park and candlelight casts its quivering, magical glow across the stage. A lone fiddler plays the opening bars of the achingly beautiful wedding song, ‘Sunrise, Sunset’. When we reach the bittersweet and hypnotic strains of the chorus, it is as though the number was written for this very moment: for this one particular sunset shared by a thousand people beneath a clear, unifying sky. It is one of many instants that make Jordan Fein’s current staging of “Fiddler on the Roof” one to remember for a long time.

When Sholem Aleichem’s “Tevye’s Daughters: Collected Stories” was first published in Yiddish at the dawn of the twentieth century, he was praised for the naturalness of his characters’ speech and the accuracy of his portrayal of life in the Shtetels of Eastern Europe. His writings combined cheerfulness in the face of adversity with the tragedy of the fate of the societies and their traditions. He probably had no idea that it would one day spawn one of the most successful and highly acclaimed musicals. Revived many times over the half century since its premiere, never before has it reflected the true nature of Aleichem’s writing with such accuracy and sensitivity. The creative elements of Jordan Fein’s interpretation come together in an electrifying mix of tradition and tragedy, with the flashes of humour searing through it like bolts of lightning.

The story centres on Tevye (Adam Dannheisser), the milkman in the village of Anatevka who is trying to cling onto his Jewish traditions as the outside world encroaches upon his family’s and the villagers’ lives. Not only that, but he is also up against his rebellious and progressive daughters who question the conventions, shunning the idea of arranged marriages; choosing instead to marry for love. The highly charged yet affectionate subversiveness of his daughters, however, is nothing compared to the dark shadow of the Imperial Russian pogroms rapidly approaching.

Tom Scutt’s imaginative set looms large over the action. A wheatfield uprooted from the ground, wrenched upwards in an arc exposing the name of the village embossed deep into the earth like an indelible stamp. Times are changing but the heritage runs deep. Beneath the canopy the orchestra is visible, the ensemble cast rarely leave the stage and the leading players watch from the sidelines when not in their own scenes. The community spirit is captured before a word is spoken (or sung). Nick Lidster’s clear-cut sound lends fragility to the solo numbers alongside the power of the rousing choruses of the ensemble. Julia Cheng’s choreography conjures a series of grand tableaux, like fine art in real life animation – meticulous yet shapeshifting: the comedy of ‘The Dream’ drifting into a macabre nightmare, or the rousing joy of ‘The Wedding’ that sinks into sinister violence as the Tsar’s officers intrude.

Adam Dannheisser, as Tevye, shifts superbly between the darkness and the light. A dominant figure yet dominated by the women in his life, he brings out the inherent comedy in the script with a true glint in his eye. A standout performance, but one of many; including Lara Pulver, as his wife Golde who really pulls the strings, along with Liv Andrusier’s feisty Tzeitel and Georgia Bruce’s pocket-rocket portrayal of Hodel. These strings snap when it comes to Chava, whose desire for marriage outside the Jewish faith is a line Tevye will not cross. Hannah Bristow adds poignancy with some evocative clarinet playing, endowing her character with a significance almost as symbolic as the eponymous ‘fiddler’ (the virtuosic Raphael Papo).

The pulse of the piece is the score. Jerry Bock’s music and Sheldon Harnick’s lyrics have gained fame and familiarity over time, but the company inject fresh individuality into the songs. Full of imagery they range from intimate to anthemic, from the major to the minor, backed by the twelve-piece orchestra. The emotional impact of the music never fails to stab, and then soothe the heart, culminating in an aching finale that feels global yet is inseparable from its ethnic origins. This is musical theatre at its heartfelt best.

WHEN IT HAPPENS TO YOU at Park Theatre

★★★★★

“sensitively scripted and staged”

WHEN IT HAPPENS TO YOU at Park Theatre

Reviewed on 6th August 2024

by Amber Woodward

Photography by Mark Douet

Previously reviewed at this venue:

WHEN IT HAPPENS

WHEN IT HAPPENS

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

★★★★★

“an electrifying mix of tradition and tragedy, with the flashes of humour searing through it like bolts of lightning”