UNTIL SHE SLEEPS at the White Bear Theatre

★★★

“There are many complicated strands to the play – probably too many – which dampens the suspense.”

Edward and Henrietta Dunbar are all surface. In public – especially down at the golf club – their silky, satin finish hides a variety of cracks like the finest emulsion. But behind the smooth talk and polished speech, and behind closed doors, we see a very different story. Brad Sutherland’s new play, “Until She Sleeps”, centres on this oddly caustic couple as they navigate the minefield of mistrust and cruelty. The misgivings extend out into the audience; we are never sure whether they are playing a cruel game for others’ benefit or for their own perverse amusement. They are bound to attract comparisons to Edward Albee’s Martha and George, particularly when the less colourful pair – Peter and Nicola – are reluctantly sucked into their orbit.

Henrietta, it turns out, is battling motor neurone disease. At first, she is in the early stages and Edward has his suspicions that she might be faking it. We never really get to grips with his qualms which are swiftly brushed aside and subsequently ignored. Similarly, the subtext of euthanasia is explored briefly, touching on the legal and moral complexities, but not followed through until a passing mention later on. Blackmail and fidelity are subjects more successfully handled, which are expressed through Sutherland’s often sharp dialogue rather than exposition, yet just as we are enjoying the more emotive moments, we are led back into pragmatic issues such as tax evasion and probate.

At its heart, though, is paranoia. A sickness more destructive and toxic to the marriage than Henrietta’s progressing disability. Jonathan Hansler manifests the frustrations with an incisive portrayal of a husband who never knows if he is the culprit or the victim. It is a strong performance, levitated with shades of John Cleese on a bad day. Tonya Cornelisse, as Henrietta, vacillates between a provocative closed coolness, and her exposed anger. Her rich, sultry voice dominates the stage, making it all the more tragic when her illness robs her of the power of speech.

Rowland D. Hill and Robin Miller, as Peter and Nicola respectively, are simultaneously the foils and conscience. Less complex, their characters are more weakly written. Miller struggles sometimes with the character of a woman denied the pleasures of an affair, while her lines veer towards simplicity rather than the complexity they require. Hill has more success as he rebuffs Edward’s attempts to lure Peter into his web of subterfuge. These scenes, away from the probing ears of Henrietta (or so we think), enhance the smokescreen effect of deceit and secrecy.

Despite the odd instance of clumsy blocking, David Furlong’s direction keeps the narrative fast paced and succinct (every now and then we fast forward a year or so) yet manages to take a breath for the humour to relieve the darkness. The isolation often found in a relationship is occasionally played for laughs before being plunged back into pathos. There are many complicated strands to the play – probably too many – which dampens the suspense. And sometimes the actors appear to be struggling to keep up. Yet despite the complexities we eventually find ourselves on the straight and narrow. The brief appearance of Nurse Millie (Orsolya Nagy) is an odd and superfluous decision. The intention is maybe that she steers us towards the play’s conclusion, but it is only when Edmund and Henrietta are left alone again that we can actually reach it. Saying very little, Hansler powerfully turns his character around with a quiet, emotionally charged performance that answers more of our questions than the rest of the evening managed to.

UNTIL SHE SLEEPS at the White Bear Theatre

Reviewed on 7th November 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Paddy Gormley

Previously reviewed at this venue:

SEVEN DAYS IN THE LIFE OF SIMON LABROSSE | ★★★½ | October 2024

THE BOX | ★★★ | July 2024

JUST STOP EXTINCTION REBELLION | ★★★ | February 2024

I FOUND MY HORN | ★★★★ | February 2023

THE MIDNIGHT SNACK | ★★★ | December 2022

THE SILENT WOMAN | ★★★★ | April 2022

US | ★★★★ | February 2022

MARLOWE’S FATE | ★★★ | November 2021

Until She Sleeps

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★★★

“the potential for an exciting clash of cultures in this piece never transpires”

Just Stop Extinction Rebellion is a hopeful play about finding romance, and finding yourself, in the autumn of life whilst the world is burning. An overtly political play this is not – admitted by the playwright, Brad Sutherland, in a note on the programme. The context in which the central pair meet, at an upper-middle class, West London climate activist group, is little more than incidental and could as easily have been a church choir. However, the meet cute does reflect the pair’s need to find meaning beyond their own little lives – seeking hope that more people can be saved from the actions they take.

The two leads are the effervescent Millicent Forbes-Frobischer of Barnes, patron of the Globe and regular at Waitrose, played with aplomb by Louise Bangay, and plain old Ben, soppy and staid James Price. Millicent is seven months separated from her husband under circumstances left unresolved. Ben is equally frustrated in his marriage, having been pushed out by his wife, Petra (Orsolya Nagy) who calls herself an ‘evil bitch’. Over the course of many months, the two grow closer as they share in their marriage woes and plot with fellow activists Gaia (also Nagy), George (Stephen Riddle) and Mrs Warboys (Hilary Field). Whilst there is sweetness to the pairs developing relationship after so many years out of the dating game, Price’s Ben is wet and left wanting beside Bangay as the dazzling Millicent. And whereas Millicent benefits from a clearly defined character arc, Ben is walked all over by his cruel wife and ends pretty much back where he started.

More interesting is the relationship between Millicent and George as their ideas for addressing the climate emergency rub up against each other. George raises motions to use guerrilla tactics of egg bombing cars and lying down in the road to halt traffic. Millicent wants to affect change through policy, and proposes a motion as such at her first meeting. His patronising quotation of Mark Twain ‘if I don’t read newspapers I’m I’ll informed, if I read them I’m uninformed’ receives a quipped at equally belittling reply from Millicent and we realise George may have met his match.

“Kenneth Michaels makes some odd directorial choices”

Whilst the plays author, Brad Sutherland, may apologise for trying to write a balanced play airing both sides, in my view, that’s a strength. Both approaches are necessary – activism for raising consciousness and demanding change and policymaking for driving the change. The characters’ perspectives are perhaps influenced by their power – Millicent as an upper middle class woman with connections in the media and government can demand and achieve attention for her policy ideas. George, whose daughter has recently died, just wants immediate action.

Kenneth Michaels makes some odd directorial choices, namely the cheesy dancing sequences to ‘Walking on Sunshine’ the extended chanting and breathwork sequences by the spiritual Gaia. Nagy’s caricatured performance in a rainbow streaked wig and billowing costumes (Samantha Parry) makes a mockery of activism without any redeeming features.

Despite the strong performance of Louise Bangay and a chameleonic turn from Stephen Riddle as Millicent’s dapper husband Henry, the potential for an exciting clash of cultures in this piece never transpires and instead the play’s emotional heart is left wanting by weak characters and parodied performances.

Tag Archives: Orsolya Nagy

UNTIL SHE SLEEPS

★★★

White Bear Theatre

UNTIL SHE SLEEPS at the White Bear Theatre

★★★

“There are many complicated strands to the play – probably too many – which dampens the suspense.”

UNTIL SHE SLEEPS at the White Bear Theatre

Reviewed on 7th November 2024