Eleanor – the Space @ Niddry Street

Eleanor, the youngest daughter of Karl Marx, was a socialist and feminist activist. But this play concentrates mainly on her relationships with her lover and friends.

All of the characters in this well written drama by Agnes Perry-Robinson were real people, intellectuals who lived in late nineteen century England.

The play is based on research. But Perry-Robinsion has used her imagination to recreate some of the interactions between Eleanor and her friends.

We see laughter-filled soirées full of stimulating conversations, charades and acting. The group shares a love of Shakespeare and even play the mechanicals performing ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. It’s all great fun – at first.

Eleanor (nicknamed ‘Tussy’) has a particularly close friendship with Dollie Radford who is married to Ernest. Her husband tells Dollie, good-humouredly, that she loves Eleanor more than she loves him.

But the primary focus of this play is on Eleanor’s relationship with her writing collaborator and fellow socialist, Edward Aveling. Her friends are concerned that he’s a married man, and she’ll get hurt. But he’s the love of her life and she can’t resist him. We see the early passion as they embrace and kiss. But it soon becomes clear he’s a womaniser, regularly seen with other women.

When drunk, Edward insults her in front of her friends. And when they’re on their own, he’s even worse, abusing her verbally, emotionally and physically. And he steals her money. Their affair continues for many years, and Edward’s behaviour gets worse. He doesn’t care how upset she gets, even daring her to kill herself. Eventually he tells her he’s got married for a second time – to someone he loves.  Eleanor is devastated but Edward throws her to the floor and leaves her in despair.

Ironically, Eleanor and Edward co-wrote a book, “The Woman Question’, which looks at the causes of women’s oppression.  Ironic too that Eleanor who campaigned so vehemently against injustice and for the rights of women was unable to prevent herself from being oppressed and abused.

Other characters in the play are William Morris, the founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement; Olive Schreiner, the anti-war campaigner; and Freddy Demuth, Eleanor’s half-brother.

It’s a joy to see enthusiastic, committed, spirited performances by a young cast, all of whom – as well as the writer and the producer – are students or recent graduates of the University of Edinburgh or Edinburgh Napier University.

Arlene McKay is impressive as Eleanor, conveying the ‘vitality, passion and love’ her friends notice as well as the depression of which they’re not so aware. McKay and Columbus Mason (as the abusive Edward) are wonderful together, showing us all facets of this ill-fated love affair.

Eleanor Greig (Dollie) and Eric Parker (Ernest) gel tenderly as the married poets. William Dron (as William) exudes confidence in a smaller but significant role. And Ais McSharry (Olive) and Rider Hartley (Freddy) are effective as two other friends of Eleanor who participate in the soirées.

However, most of the cast speak far too quickly at times – particularly, but not exclusively, in the laughter-filled scenes in the first half of the play. Combined with a tendency of some actors to lower their voices too much, it can sometimes be difficult to make out everything they say.

The play is produced by Farina Funcasta and co-directed by the writer and by Eve Hartley. The directors are to be congratulated on a stimulating and energetic production. But it’s a little too frantic in the first half.

A longer version of ‘Eleanor’, running for 90 minutes, was originally performed last year. It’s been cut to 50 minutes for the Fringe. Although the cast size has been reduced by one, that still leaves 7 actors in a much-shortened play, meaning there’s not much focus on some of the characters including nineteenth century icon William Morris. The actors all do a good job, but I do wonder if a smaller cast would have helped give greater clarity to the storytelling.

Like most shows, it’s not perfect. But it’s a thought-provoking and moving piece of theatre which is well worth seeing.

Ganymede Theatre Company is supporting Edinburgh Women’s Aid which works with the victims of domestic abuse. https://www.edinwomensaid.co.uk/

Reviewer: Tom Scott

Reviewed: 7th August 2024

North West End UK Rating: