‘Castle Lennox’, presented by the Royal Lyceum Theatre of Edinburgh and Lung Ha Theatre Company, tells the story of Annis, a young Autistic woman who is sent to the titular Castle Lennox, a mental institution, and her interactions with both staff and fellow patients.
Where this show shines is in its representation of disabled people. The show features a majority disabled cast, and all disabled characters in the show are played by disabled actors. That this show is able to provide opportunities for disabled creatives is admirable and something I hope to see more of – I’ll definitely be a closer follower of the work of the Lung Ha Theatre Company from now on. Arguably more notable is that the disabled characters in this show are well-developed, full people that exist as more than inspirational tales to make the audience members cry over how ‘brave’ they are. They have rich internal lives and complex relationships with the other characters. Some of them are mean. Not all of them are simple, kind characters as has become the standard for disabled representation in media. Also of note is how BSL interpretation is integrated into the show. I won’t ruin it, but it is arguably the best and most interesting part of the show.
In spite of this, the play itself needs restructuring. For the first 2/3 of the show, it’s entirely unclear how long Annis has been at Castle Lennox – it could be three days, it could be a week, it could be a month. In an (admittedly excellent) sequence, it becomes clear it has been less than a year, but the show then jumps ~20 years. The time jump happening all at once in the space of a couple of minutes reduces the capacity for character development. If this had been spread out throughout the show (Do one of the scenes early in the show, jump a year, do another scene etc.), the audience would be able to see how characters and their relationships change over time, which I think would only make the ending more impactful and deepen the relationships. The show is a snappy 75 minutes so I realise they might have been short for time to allow this to happen. However, if this show is developed further, this time could be found by cutting most of the catchy but irrelevant songs. Regarding the music, a further missed opportunity for character development is the absence of songs for the lead characters. At the moment, most of the songs are ensemble numbers about tiny details of their lives. From memory, only one of the lead characters, one of Annis’ fellow patients, actually gets a solo number. Musical numbers are a great opportunity to dig deeper into a character’s psyche and I think better use of music would only improve the piece.
Being honest, I was initially quite disappointed with this show and was going to give it a paltry two stars. I didn’t come out of it feeling anything other than that I thought there were structural issues to the show. However, what increased the rating to three was the thoughts of my boyfriend, who was my +1 for this evening. He really enjoyed it and apparently spent most of the show holding back tears. While discussing the show with him, it became apparent that part of the reason I struggled with this show is that I already knew a lot of what was presented in the show. As an Autistic person myself, I’m well aware of the history (and current practice) of the institutionalisation of disabled people so none of what was presented was new to me. In contrast, it was new to my boyfriend. What this showed me is that, in spite of structural issues and missed opportunities for character development, this show is able to communicate clearly to an audience the barely-discussed history of the treatment of disabled people in a very affecting way while providing opportunities for the involvement of disabled people in theatre. These can only be good things. But the show does still need restructuring.
Reviewer: Ella Catherall
Reviewed: 31st March 2023
North West End UK Rating: ★★★