The Human Voice – King’s Arms, Salford

The insistence of a telephone ringing can be annoying, “Answer me! Answer me!”, it cries. Yet when it stops and there is silence, that is worse.

A phone call is the perfect metaphor for a play about disconnection. Callers can be cut off and find themselves shouting into the void, searching for someone to talk to. We all want to find someone with whom we can connect.

Jean Cocteau saw the theatrical benefit of the phone call with his play La Voix Humaine in 1930. At that time the telephone was the only way for two people to communicate at a distance. The main problem with adapting the play and setting it in the present day is that there are now so many ways for two people to “talk” to each other that the last way they would do it is to speak over a landline.

However, I am willing to suspend my disbelief for any play. While it may seem like an anachronism to have the main character talking on an old 1970s rotary phone while vaping, I am ready to accept it as the only way the piece can work theatrically.

This monologue tells an everyday story that is no less moving for its ordinariness. The Woman (Jess Gough) is waiting for a call from a now-ex-lover who spurned her. Detritus and old clothes are on the floor of her room, and she is swigging from a vodka bottle as she talks. Even though he is not physically there with her, she feels close to him as they converse on the phone.

She admits to him that she is, “Not in the driving seat of my own life.” The call keeps getting interrupted and it is obvious there is something wrong with the connection. This is not simply a technical hitch with the phone, they are both talking along different lines. She is lost and full of despair, he wants her to be brave and to find some hope. As they are talking it becomes clear that whatever had held them together as a couple is now broken and fragmented.

The Woman is lost and all she has is this tenuous link to a happier past when they were in love. Now the line is breaking down and other voices are trying to break in and disrupt that nebulous connection with her ex.

Jess Gough’s portrayal of The Woman’s disintegration was exquisite. Her performance was underpinned by an intrinsic understanding of where this character’s emotional truth lies. You felt her distress, loneliness, and longing for connection. She did not fall into the trap of being hysterical or overplaying the situation. Nothing was forced, and it felt real. The only downside was that there was a large book on stage, which seemed to be some sort of script/guide, and she kept turning its pages, which was distracting.

Interestingly, each night of the show will have a different actor, meaning different interpretations will happen with each performance. Presumably, Adam Cachia, the director and adapter of the play, will have impressed the same vision for the piece on each actress, yet each show will be distinct from the others. It is an intriguing idea but even when the actors don’t change, every night a play is performed it is different and unique. That is the joy of the theatre!

It will be on at the King’s Arms on the 12^th and 13^th December – https://www.kingsarmssalford.com/event/the-human-voice/

Reviewer: Adam Williams

Reviewed: 11th December 2024

North West End UK Rating: