Laura Wade has held her own as both a playwright and screenwriter with numerous successes to her name. “The Riot Club” was adapted from her play “Posh” offered early career chances to Freddie Fox and Tom Hollander and she soon has an adapted of agilely Cooper novel coming our from Disney. “Home, I’m Darling” opened at the National Theatre in 2019 followed by a season at the Duke of York’s and has proved itself a hit which left me wondering what I was missing. A small but keen audience arrived last night at the Alexandra and clearly enjoyed their evening. Tamara Harvey directs with attention to detail but creates scenes of such speed I was left a little bewildered. The tempo of each scene and pitch of so many of the voices is relentlessly similar and makes for a hard watch.
Jessica Ransom as Judy carries the majority of the play and delivers a sterling performance as a frustrated, but dedicated, housewife living in a faux 1950’s decorated house as her relationship with her husband and her idyll slowly falls apart. Neil McDermott deftly held his place as husband Johnny and managed to navigate his way through some chunky swatches of dialogue.
It was a delight to see Diane Keen whose comic timing and pitch was perfectly delivered in the small but vital role as mother. Years of sit com experience served her well and she managed to salvage a couple of strong laughs from a play which was stylistic unsure what it wanted to be.
Cassie Bradley as Fran, Shane Pattni as Alec and understudy Steve Blacker-Barrowman completed the small cast. Anna Heischle’s intelligent and colourful set felt like it was straight for 1950’s commercial down to the smallest detail.
I was left a little lost and unsatisfied. Don’t get me wrong the audience loved it and, though there were not quite enough laughs to truly warrant the title “comedy”, it did raise a number of happy chuckles along the way.
It was certainly clever and explored gender politics. Was it also about Brexit – people wanting go back to the good old days? – Was it about wider issues or just the characters in the play? I was left asking so many questions.
So, here’s the challenge – go see it. Take a friend to discuss it with. Prove me wrong. Show me I don’t know what I’m talking about. I may have missed something completely. Maybe you’ll have the best night of your life. Just like in the good old days… https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/the-alexandra-theatre-birmingham/
Reviewer: Peter Kinnock
Reviewed: 25th April 2023
North West End UK Rating: ★★★