Ellie Kurttz Archives - Page 3 of 5 - thespyinthestalls.com

★★★

“there isn’t a weak performance in the whole cast”

Alexis Zegerman’s new play, The Fever Syndrome, set in New York, is about a driven, intellectual family dealing with life changing illness. Front and centre in the drama is patriarch Richard Myers, living with the last stages of Parkinson’s. His only grandchild, Lily, suffers from a mysterious genetic disease characterized by high fevers. In both cases, though in very different ways, both grandfather and grandchild are afflicted by diseases that are literally attacking their chances at life. It turns out that their family, rife with internecine rivalry, is also attacking people’s chances at life, despite the display of liberal politics and cutting edge business ideas. Zegerman’s play does capture much of the authenticity of American family life, at least in New York City, but many Americans may feel that it takes more than a dogged commitment to the Mets baseball team to make Richard Myers a truly sympathetic character. The Fever Syndrome is disappointing, ultimately, since it is unclear who we are supposed to be rooting for.

The Fever Syndrome is a long play. Unnecessarily long. It’s the sort of drama that Netflix would divide into several episodes, and we’d all be grateful for the break between the intense scenes that characterize unfinished business between father and children. Scenes that draw in partners — both established, and new to the family dynamics — and all the children, past and present, that present in flickering movements, both real and surreal. In the constant upheaval, it’s easy to lose track of the event that has gathered the family together, and which marks the starting point for this sprawling plot. Richard Myers has been awarded the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for his work in IVF (which produced the so called “test tube babies”) allowing infertile couples to have children of their own. In the living room of Richard’s New York brownstone is a space dedicated to all the families he has helped to create. It is ironic, therefore, that his own family is constantly on the brink of disintegration. The Fever Syndrome is, at its heart, about a groundbreaking scientist who brought all these children into the world but couldn’t raise his own. And despite the scientific gloss — the references to RIchard’s work, and later, the diseases that are systematically and relentlessly destroying his life and Lily, his granddaughter’s life —this is what the play is about. Another American family, rent from within by toxic parent child relationships, and playing out psycho-logical dramas that hint at Sophoclean proportions, on their living room floors. This is overly familiar territory, despite all the contemporary trimmings.

Director Roxana Silbert has assembled a cast brimming with talent, and a terrific design team for The Fever Syndrome. Robert Lindsay, as Richard, does, like the character he plays, award worthy work. Lindsay plays the fractious father and Parkinson’s sufferer so well that it is easy to forget that he manages comedy, and musicals, just as effortlessly. He is well matched by Alexandra Gilbreath, playing Richard’s third wife, Megan. Both actors are completely in command of the layered, complex characters that Zegerman has created. But then, there isn’t a weak performance in the whole cast. The adult children, Dot (Lisa Dillon), Thomas (Alex Waldmann) and Anthony (Sam Marks) play out their rivalries in ways that shift the audience’s sympathies from one to the other like watching an intense tennis match. Their partners Nate (Bo Poraj) and Philip (Jake Fairbrother) watch from the sidelines until they can take no more. And at the still centre of the family storm is teenager Lily (Nancy Allsop) and, from time to time, the mysterious young Dot (Charlotte Pourret Wythe) who can only be seen by Richard. The set, designed by Lizzie Clachan, is also award worthy, making the most of the Hampstead Theatre’s stage to create a fitting backdrop to this complicated family’s dynamics. There is much to admire in this production, despite its length, and the lack of a satisfying ending.

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Ellie Kurttz

Witness for the Prosecution

London County Hall

Reviewed – 30th September 2021

★★★★★

“Lucy Bailey’s staging is inspired, clever and inventive”

Situated on the South Bank of the Thames, London County Hall is watched over by Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye. Sitting at its centre is the magnificent splendour of the octagonal Council Chamber. Since the First World War it served as the headquarters of local government for London. Back in the 1980s Ken Livingstone would lock horns with Margaret Thatcher while the façade of the Hall served as a billboard for opposition slogans; seen from the austere, Gothic windows of the Palace of Westminster. Today the banners tell a different story, inviting us to witness another courtroom battle altogether. Agatha Christie’s “Witness for the Prosecution”, published as a short story in 1925 in a weekly pulp magazine, was eventually adapted by the author herself into a play which opened in London in the fifties. Lucy Bailey’s unique production has been running at London County Hall for four years now and, although still far behind ‘The Mousetrap’ it looks set to follow suit in its longevity.

We are summoned into the chambers, settling into the leather-bound, high-backed seats; some of us in the gallery and a dozen hand-picked audience members led to the jury’s bench. It is the perfect setting for a courtroom drama. The solemnity of the atmosphere would seemingly leave little for the design team to do, but Chris Davey’s lighting and, in particular, Mic Pool’s chilling sound design immediately let you know the proceedings are about to start. One of the most stunning preludes in the West End then gives way to the action that unfolds before us: a story of truth and lies, guilt and innocence, defence, and prosecution. A tale where words are twisted as ruthlessly as the plot.

Leonard Vole (Joe McNamara), a ‘between-jobs’ mechanic has been accused of murdering a wealthy, older woman with whom he struck up a close friendship. A friendship that Detective Inspector Hearne (Christopher Dickens) casts in dubious shades. Vole’s wife (or is she?) stands by him (or does she?). Sir Wilfrid Robarts takes on his defence and believes in his innocence (or does he?). It would be criminal of me to answer the questions here, though I think I can get away with saying that any second guessing is probably a waste of time.

Agatha Christie was fascinated by the idea of deceiving an audience, and she was an expert at it. We don’t know who’s done what until the very end. There is a huge responsibility for a stage adaptation to respect that, and this cast would have won her trust in the strike of a judge’s gavel. McNamara’s Leonard Vole is the picture of innocence and naivety, digging a hole for himself with his self-proclaimed candid honesty. But you get the sense he has dug his own bunker too, into which he has stashed the real truth. A spell-binding performance that has us questioning as much as the prosecution. Jonathan Firth as Sir Wilfrid takes on his defence with a sparkling, almost camp relish. Firth is a delight to watch, commanding the stage. Most of the action takes place in the courtroom but some of the most poignant scenes take place in Wilfrid’s chambers. The banter between Firth and the wonderful Teddy Kemper (playing defence lawyer Mr Mayhew) gives a true insight into the dichotomy and duplicity required to tread the boards of the courtroom.

Into this world steps Romaine Vole, the German refugee wife of the accused, shaking the foundations of this male oriented inner circle. Emer McDaid’s coquettish, cool, calculating charisma confounds both the council and the audience. She supports her husband’s alibi, then denounces it, then… well – my lips are sealed. She is a woman you ‘wouldn’t trust with your laundry’. A riveting performance, in line with the rest of the cast. Lighter moments are thrown in with precision timing, courtesy of Martin Turner’s dry and sardonic Mr Justice Wainwright.

Lucy Bailey’s staging is inspired, clever and inventive. Despite the head start she was given by the setting. As the play nears its close the jury are asked to deliver their verdict. You think that’s that. But no, there’s more. I shan’t reveal what the summing up is. But, ladies and gentlemen, you should have no difficulty reaching your verdict on this glorious adaptation. It really must be witnessed.

Hampstead Theatre

Reviewed – 5th April 2022

★★★

“there isn’t a weak performance in the whole cast”

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Ellie Kurttz

The Fever Syndrome

Hampstead Theatre until 30th April

Recently reviewed at this venue:

London County Hall

Reviewed – 30th September 2021

★★★★★

“Lucy Bailey’s staging is inspired, clever and inventive”

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Ellie Kurttz

Witness for the Prosecution

London County Hall until August 2022

Five star shows this year: