You flinched when I touched you - I liked it

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews...

Machinal : The Old Vic

No star casting involved here - this was a late booking because of the good reviews it got and it only cost me £22 to sit in the stalls, so I suspect that ticket sales have been an issue.

The theatre was full though and we all got to view a very yellow and strange shaped stage with some intriguing letters at the bottom of it - I was definitely wondering what all that was about...

...and all was made clear as the play started and a "holder" was lowered for some of the letters to be loaded into it and raised back up again - yes, the play had chapter titles!  As this happened, various actors appeared and disappeared using various hidden doors in the set, creating an effective impression of a bustling office through the clever use of sound, movement and light.

And the clever use of sound, movement and (particularly) light continues throughout the show as we follow "Young Woman" (Rosie Sheehy) through various restrictive phases of her life as she searches for some freedom - which she does find, but not in a manner that is, shall we say, considered to be socially acceptable (she murders her husband).

For a play that premiered in 1928 (and was, according to Wikipedia, considered "one of the highpoints of Expressionist theatre"), this felt surprisingly relevant today in terms of gender expectations and equality.  It was also, for a play that is quite "theatrical" at times (there's a lot of "acting, dahling" and dialogue that comes somewhat out of left-field), pleasingly simple to follow.

The role of "Young Woman" is central to approximately 90% of the play and so its success or failure rests heavily upon the actor in the role and Rosie Sheehy massively steps up to the mark here - she may be a mere slip of a girl but she gives a huge tour-de-force performance which holds your attention throughout.  The other actors are somewhat overshadowed - shout-outs also go to Tim Frances who is contrastingly conventional as "A Husband" and Buffy Davis overbearingly stifling as "A Mother", but the whole cast are good and fill a large number of roles throughout the play.

That stage is quite the design (or, more accurately, a blank canvas) and the lighting is set up well to make best use of it, with fantastic use of shadow throughout the play - there always feels to be a lot to look at for such a small space.

But, for most of it, you're paying attention to Rosie - it will be interesting to see if she goes on to bigger and better things (the 1993 production starred Fiona Shaw, who I guess has done alright for herself since).  I really enjoyed this and recommend it - it's an interesting play and it felt like a proper theatrical experience, but was not excessively confusing (which I suspect could be done with minimal effort).  There are also some tickets left which are very reasonably priced, which is becoming somewhat of a rarity these days - recently, I was an hour late trying to get tickets to see David Tennant in Macbeth and the only ones left were £200!

Long Day's Journey Into Night - A LOT of words!
People, Places & Things - An impressive central performance