(seen at the afternoon performance on 17th January 2024)
The Young Vic promise a re-invention of this 1964 Harold Pinter modern classic. Matthew Dunster delivers admirably.
Into the all-male working-class London family home comes the beautiful young wife of the son who escaped boundaries social and literal to become a university lecturer in America. He is happy with his life and family; she feels torn from their shared background.
Dunster’s new interpretation focuses on the social upheaval of the late post-war era. Increasing anger at the emergence of a censorious middle class (the extremes of which we still feel today) are spelled out from the opening scene.
It provides the motivation for what follows; rebellion, desperate efforts to escape being trapped in a perceived world. The satire is bitter, and often engrossing (even more so if one or two people had turned their phones off).
Rather than treating the text as a whole, Dunster prefers to let each individual character contribute something unique to build the layers of his argument.
Joe Cole’s energetically sleazy Lenny is the catalyst. Perpetually angry, frustrated by his low status at home and in society, asking awkward questions and detached to the point of amorality and immorality.
In his younger days, father Max (Jared Harris) might have been the same had the responsibilities of financing his siblings and his own family not kept him in legitimate employment. Harris is a chameleon, intense mood swings and effortful concentration to keep sometimes a step behind at all times.
By contrast, Max’s brother Sam (Nicolas Tennant) is resigned and stable. Tennant does fine work setting up the politics early on, his descriptions of the people he chauffeurs, their attitudes and behaviours defining where this production is headed and explaining very clearly why.
The return of Teddy (Robert Emms) and wife Ruth (Lisa Diveney) this time crack rather than shatter the family porcelain. While Emms has clearly joined the ranks of another class and is almost surprised to find he still has a bed in his former home, Diveney is far less certain.
Ruth’s need for passion is a constant bubbling. Teddy ignores it, even when happening right in front of him as his brothers take control of her in increasingly violent, shockingly misogynistic fashion. Youngest son of Max, boxer Joey (David Angland), delights in the opportunity - sending ripples of disgust through us observing.
Diveney allows Ruth’s sensuality to flow like blood and tears from the wounds they inflict. Failed by her rise to the middle class, a return to the very lowest rung seems attractive initially as revenge but mostly as self-punishment and twisted regaining of control. The beautifully chosen theme from “Gigi” underscoring the closing moments adds greatly to the degradation.
For those unfamiliar with the era, the “class war” politics may obscure character motivation. What certainly obscures the characters from view of much of the stalls audience is Moi Tran’s design on the thrust (audience on three sides) stage.
Chairs on two long sides, a fireplace on the shorter edge cheerily block the viewing angles for everybody at some points. Even more interestingly, the floor carpet and rugs are immaculate grey, without a stain in this smoky male home.
Sally Ferguson makes some equally peculiar lighting decisions. Partly compelled by the design to light heavily each chair and character in the vast space to ensure we can’t miss them, an upstage mirror reflects too often her work.
Other production elements worthy of praise are George Dennis's sound design - which picks up the immaculate work Hazel Holder does with the entire cast on dialect. It also survives Kev McCurdy’s brief and violent fight direction, as well as Charlotte Broom’s choreographed movement.
The use of Yarit Dor as Intimacy Director also proves invaluable, ensuring the sexual tensions shock in a way that exploits the characters rather than the performers.
Exploitation is the key to this revival. Drawing parallels between it happening within society and at personal individual level, this homecoming is for truths returning to haunt a family then and our society still today. Worthy of a long pause to listen.
4 stars.
Photo credit: Manuel Harlan.