Blessings
Sarah Shelton, who also directs
Riverside Studios
Star rating: 2
It’s like a time warp in every sense. Very clearly set in 1969 (clunky topical references aplenty), Sarah Shelton’s new play is also the most straightforward drama I’ve seen in decades. It’s family dynamics without any sort of theatrical innovation. That could be refreshing but in reality it feels oddly flat although you can’t fault it for story telling.
Frank and Dorie Deacon are the parents of four children in a town somewhere in England: Martin and Penny have flown the nest and are working in London. Frances and Sally are still at home. It’s a Catholic family and Dorie is a staunch devotee. As soon as we see Frances (Hannah Traylen – strong performance) we know that the boat is about to be rigorously rocked.
Arguably it’s a play which, in acknowledging the rapidly changing social mores of the late 1960s, tries to cover too many bases in 90 minutes. We ricochet from teenage pregnancy and the “unmarried mother” stigma to the status of women, education, parenting and the questionable role of some “celibate” Catholic priests in some communities along with a bit of drunkenness and domestic violence. There’s a nod to recently legalised abortion too. Odd, come to think of it, that the new and controversial contraceptive pill isn’t in the mix given that this is a Catholic setting.
Some of research is inaccurate. No one was telling pregnant women not to drink alcohol in 1969. Moreover at that time the minimum entry requirement to teacher training college was 5 O Levels and maths and English were not specified. You didn’t need A levels although many students had them. Trust me. I was there. These are very minor details but things like this somehow dent the credibility of the whole play.
There is, however, some fine acting in this show from an accomplished cast of six. Emily Lane, as the youngest daughter Sally who absorbs all the flack while trying to develop a life plan of her own, is excellent. She’s a very versatile performer. I last saw her in the banal, all-singing, all-dancing Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle in August where her talents were somewhat wasted but she’s gets her head in Blessings. Milly Roberts doubles pleasingly as the acidic older sister and as Sally’s rather more likeable school friend.
Both men (father and son in real life) are accomplished multi-rolers, switching so convincingly that you almost don’t notice it’s the same actor. Thus Gary Webster is compelling as the angry, troubled but sinned against pater familias and then as the over-friendly, Father O’Brien. And Freddie Webster gives us a patronising, bossy older brother and doubles nicely as Sally’s gentle boyfriend, Peter.
Anna Acton presents Dorie as a put-upon, middle aged woman, pulled in every direction. And it’s powerful on the whole. I am not, however, remotely convinced by the earlier liaison with Father O’Brien and the “suo padre” story (strange how so many stories hang on that). Neither actor conveys that sort of illicit chemistry.
Moreover, the ending of this play is a cop out. It simply tails off as if the playwright has run out of ideas.
