American playwright Gina Gionfriddo provided one of the best new plays of 2010/11 with Becky Shaw, running over Christmas at the Almeida. This one doesn’t quite live up to that, but its good enough to make the schlep to Swiss Cottage at the start of a tube strike worthwhile.
Feminist writer Catherine returns New England from NYC to care for her mother and turns the lives of her ex Don and his wife Gwen upside down. Academic Don lacks ambition and drive and has descended into a quiet life of non-teaching role, beer and porn. Unfulfilled housewife Gwen looks after their two boys, born ten years apart, and is desperate to ensure her 13-year-old mummies boy fulfils his ambition. Don has a better relationship with the lively 3-year-old.
Catherine starts a feminist summer class at her mum’s home for just Gwen and her 21-year-old ex-babysitter Avery (herself in a troubled relationship) and re-kindles the flame with Don, which Gwen soon realises and reacts to rather mildly. For me, this is where it all gets a bit implausible as an elegant solution that suits everyone is developed.
Like the earlier play, it’s too slow to get going and becomes somewhat uneven. It’s difficult to like Catherine, Don or Gwen, so your sympathies are with mom Alice and young Avery, who also get all the best lines. The feminist debate is often engaging but sometimes rather dry. At its best, it sparkles, but it doesn’t sparkle enough.
It’s nicely set by designer Jonathan Fensom and the performances are all good, but I couldn’t help thinking it could have been a lot better if she’d focused more on the characterisation and less on the debate.