Theatre Review

Theatre 6 presents

BEYOND THERAPY

Writer: Christopher Durang

Director: Kate McGregor

Designer: Carla Goodman

Composer: Maria Haik Escudero

Hen and Chickens Theatre

1 – 19 June 2010

A review by Jafar Iqbal for EXTRA! EXTRA!

Let it be known that expectation and hype will be the downfall of contemporary theatre.

Okay, slight exaggeration there, I will admit, but there is definitely some truth in the statement. Sure, contemporary British theatre may not crumble, but expectation can definitely play a big role in determining the critical response to a production. Take the work of an established playwright – an audience goes with a certain amount of belief that they will see another piece of brilliant theatre and not being at that standard can hurt the play. In some ways, the play is judged before it’s even started.

Or, as would be more the case for lesser-known fringe theatre, an audience’s expectation for a production can be shaped and changed while the play is actually going on. This would certainly ring true for Beyond Therapy, the Christopher Durang-written play now being staged at The Hen and Chicken’s Theatre in Islington and, for me, it is quite a fascinating experience.

Beyond Therapy opens with two thirty-somethings meeting in a restaurant. Both Bruce (Tristan Matthiae) and Prudence (Heather Gibbs) have answered a newspaper personal ad and have come to meet and hopefully fall in love with each other. It seems to be going well, until Bruce reveals he already has a male lover called Bob, and proceeds to break down into tears constantly. After lots of disagreements and no waiter in sight, the date ends abruptly, topped off with each person throwing water into the other’s face.

For me, this was one of the best scenes of a comedy play I’d seen in a very long time. The writing was sharp, witty and genuinely humorous; the performances were impeccable, doing great justice to the text with brilliant comic timing - it was a very strong way to start the evening. The rest of the audience seemed to agree with me, and actually gave the scene massive applause when it ended. The play had got off to a fabulous start. The expectation for the play was suddenly very high.

As the play goes on, we meet more zany characters from Bruce and Prudence’s lives. There is Bob, the depressed male lover who is not at all keen on his boyfriend’s decision to start dating women, there is Dr Framingham, Prudence’s sex-obsessed psychiatrist and Mrs Wallace, who is Bruce’s psychiatrist and slightly mental herself. Bruce and Prudence start to develop an attraction despite their differences and the other characters creating stumbling blocks is what sets the stage for the rest of the play. Will Bruce and Prudence finally live happily ever after? Will Bob let his male lover go? Will the psychiatrists find a shred of sanity anywhere? These are the questions being raised in the 90-minute production, an interesting concept for a rather surreal and zany comedy.

But though the concept is good, it is the execution that falters slightly. With each new scene, the story begins to grow more and more convoluted, until it is somewhat hard to follow by the end. It is certainly the characters that make the play, and it is their well-roundedness that draws the audience in, but it is as if in trying to make sure they are strong, the plot itself being ignored. The show ends very anti-climactically, therefore, leaving me wanting more. Perhaps the play could have used an interval and more time to develop the story, instead, it all comes to a very sudden end and I, personally, felt a little lost as to what had happened.

It’s a shame too, because fantastic performances and excellent staging really enhance the piece. Felicity Davidson (Mrs Wallace) is especially good as the zany psychiatrist, but all the characters seem to lose their zest by the end of the play. Similarly, the strong script and humour of that first scene is never matched in the rest of the play and, despite the audience continuing to clap after every scene as though this was the normal thing to do, it didn’t reflect the strength of each scene.

I would probably have enjoyed Beyond Therapy a lot of more, had the quality of the play been consistent from start to finish. But to have my expectation for the play raised so high after that first scene meant that I was hoping for more of the same, but my hopes were never realised.

Tickets: £13 / £11

Tuesday – Saturday at 7pm

Saturday Matinee at 3pm (No Matinee on 12th June)

The Hen And Chicken’s Theatre, 109 St Paul’s Road, London N1 2NA

http://www.unrestrictedview.co.uk

Box Office: 020 7704 2001

Online Booking: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk

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