“A person gets their heart set on a certain thing…”
Funny, sexy, violent, frightening and unsettling, Matthew
Parker’s last in-house production as Artistic Director for The Hope, had
everything I love about his work. You grab a drink downstairs in the bar of this
famous venue and walk upstairs into a performance area that even smells
different from the world below. 85 minutes later you crack a twisted wistful
smile as you walk out trying to process the many layers just unpeeled in front
of your very eyes…
There’s a dark magic here and a team of performers who are
utterly within their roles – there’s no room to hide as audience or performer with
the players standing amongst us as once again, Mr Parker makes use of every
inch of the Hope.
This being a last hurrah it was fitting that three stars
from three of my favourite Parker performances feature strongly; Colette Eaton
from Her Aching Heart, Fergus Leathem from Brimstone & Treacle
and Bart Lambert from Thrill Me: the Leopold and Loeb Story.
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| Colette Eaton and Bart Lambert - photos from lhphotoshots |
Colette Eaton prowled the stage tonight with malicious confidence
as Jackie-O, the twisted twin sister of Marty (Leathem) with a history of psychiatric
disorders, medicated almost to the point of normal behaviour but still obsessed
with the death of JFK. She makes me think of a certain character currently on
screens played by Joaquin Phoenix, only her Jackie has more menace and less
make-up. She owns the role with a smile and a laugh that Clown Prince of Crime
would envy and has such assurance and control that her primal screams of rage
all the more astonishing.
In the intimacy of the Hope you are tempted to reach out and
comfort an actor in seeming distress, that’s how completely you are part of
their world and I felt for the twin’s younger brother, Anthony, played by Bart
Lambert as a sympathetic sociopath all of his own. This is indeed one strange
family and Bart has such intense expressiveness and quivering febrility imbuing his character with fear and cunning: at once worn down by and revelling
in the family house rules of "do as thy wilt shall be the whole of the law".
It’s Thanksgiving eve and there’s a hurricane blowing outside; the least pathetic fallacy ever – no one’s getting out of this House unchanged.
Mother knows best of course, and murderous matriarch Mother
Pascal (Gill King, classy, imperious, Cruella DC...) is the wicked witch of Washington who dominates and enables
the free-roaming morality of her children. Marty is the one trying to build an existence outside of her
centrifugal cruelty and brings home his fiancée, Lesly (Kaya Bucholc, so energetically commited as the play's most identifiable character; experiencing The House through our eyes), a “civilian”,
a working class girl from Pennsylvania who has no name just a lot of character
especially when faced with the family’s desperate need to pull Marty back in. It's a change of pace for Fergus Leathem after Brimstone, and he plays the almost-straight man to his family's sick jokes with subtle confidence.
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| Mother knows best... Gill King - lhphotoshots |
"I’ve never even met anyone who’s been to Pennsylvania, much less been from Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania is just this state that gets in your way when you have to go someplace else."
Like antibodies the Pascals work on Lesly’s alien force; Mother
through aggression, Anthony by hitting on her and Jackie-O who uses the most powerful
lure of all for her twin…
Wendy Macleod’s play resonates on so many levels right now as,
thirty odd years after it was written, we have another family running the Whitehouse
and who, like the Pascal’s want all of the Kennedy trappings without the
political conscience. Jackie-O dresses up as Jackie Kennedy complete with fake
blood and JFK brains on her dress; no more horrific than the way reality is
turning out. Take notes Ivanka…
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| Kaya Bucholc - lhphotoshots |
The entitled psychopathy is very 2019 as, from all around the
world, might is increasingly right and Lesly, despite her spirit, is
just another intelligent and reasonable person who is damaged by the Pascal
fruits. But, hey, they may be a little “crazy”, but they’re the ones with the
power.
The House of Yes is mad good fun with a hundred
zingers in the text all delivered with deathly deadpan by Parker’s posse of
perfect performers. It’s a fitting farewell for the remarkable Mr Parker –
almost a “greatest hits” collection of the funny, peculiar and thought-provoking
themes that run though his work like a bitter-sweet Blackpool through a stick
of rock. Here’s to the next one but meanwhile DO NOT miss this black swansong.
A tip of the hat too Stage Manager, Laurel Marks who made the lighting and sound design work so well on the night - the sixth performer on stage so no pressure! As usual the Hope was transformed this time by Rachael Ryan's design along with Lucia Sanchez-Roldan's lighting design and Simon Arrowsmith's sound. An in-house team that obviously likes to say yes.
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| Colette Eaton and Fergus Leathem - photos from lhphotoshots |
The House of Yes runs until 26th October, full details on the Hope website.
“Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to baste the turkey
and hide the kitchen knives…”
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| Premier league lurking from Ms Eaton. |
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