The paw law… The Monkey’s Paw (2025), The Hope Theatre

Steven Maddocks and Josephine Rogers (photo Cam Harle)

The Hope Theatre gets inside your head, it’s a box of delights that closes in on the audience always a different shape, always a different story and tonight’s fever dream was no different as we were lost between a dark Edwardian cottage and the storage space deep beneath the British Museum. W. W. Jacobs’ original story became something of a warning to the wise in a psychodrama played out with such expert choreography by Josephine Rogers and Steven Maddocks… not forgetting the mysterious Herbert a supernatural substitute for love and offspring that may or may not be “real”.

The Monkey’s Paw was originally published in 1902 and became a stage play by Louis N. Parker in 1907 then, a sadly lost silent film in 1915, starring John Lawson, who also played the main character Parker’s play. Since then, there have been numerous adaptations all most thrilling and focused on the horror. This version devised, written and produced by Infinite Space Theatre and directed by Leah Townley, is focused on the more human horrors of a husband and wife living on the margins and struggling to make ends meet as the Great War looms and their economic and personal circumstances stretch their sanity and their relationship to breaking point.

Josephone Rogers, Steven Maddocks and the paw... (photo Cam Harle)

The horror here is not so much the monkey’s paw as their ability to establish a relationship and to improve their circumstances. They wish for a child and they pray for professional success and economic wellbeing – they want to be warm and comfortable – they do not want to fall into debt, and end up in the workhouse which, at this time, was you’re only option should you not be able to meet your financial obligations. Those good old days all the flags and indignant pomp of modern politics evoke, of course overlooks the lack of welfare and healthcare at this point in Great Britain when most didn’t even have the vote.

Jenny and John White represent what could be described as the struggling lower middle and it doesn’t take much bad fortune for the former to be losing her eyesight through working on her Singer sewing machine 14 hours a day or dreading working with rabbit skins as her family had had to do when she was young, an existence so squalid that as an eight year old she just didn’t notice the dead eight-day old baby in the bed in which her twin brother was dying having inhaled just too much rabbit fur to breathe.

One stage, two worlds...

The real horror is their lives and not the paw… this is merely a device to show that self-improvement is only possible through solidarity and hard graft, together with aligned purpose.

The paw is a distraction especially for John who works in the museum’s store and having found the mummy of an unidentified child, also finds the remains of the primate hidden in the folds of its bandages. Accidentally discovering that it can make his wishes come true after it magics him home, he quickly wastes his next two wishes on lamb stew and then a vague hope for happiness for his wife. The paw grants wishes but never for free, there is always a consequence and there is almost no way of wishing, for example, for money without someone or something precious being lost or wishing for life when that night only mean death warmed up…

Whilst these horrors are very well handled and key to the story, the real power is in the relationship between these two fragile but determined souls, trying to make their love last in the most challenging of circumstances.

The choreography of the two main characters, the paw and the Herbert who may or may not be a real baby, is brilliantly handled as is the use of the space to denote Jenny at home and John at work or in Egypt chasing his lost cause in the War for 18 shillings a week… My granddad was stationed in that area at 17 in 1918 and this part of the play is particularly touching bearing in mind his experience as a young lad from Widnes who would have much to contend with over the decade after his return. 

Josephine Rogers and Steven Maddocks work so hard for the audience and lose themselves and us in their moments and they full deserved their applause at the end: as plays go this is like whistling and dancing at the same time whilst juggling too… well played! 

IThankYouTheatre Rating: **** For a thoroughly inventive and enjoyable play that reminds us of the essential hardships of life without magic wishes as much as the perils of Egyptian magical forces!

A tip of the hat to Hannah Williams excellent stage design as well as Alex Forey illuminations and the atmospherics of Peter Michaels sound design. Gisela Mulindwa also made some truly unsettling props… I shall be having nightmares – a regular thing, all started by Doctor Who and plastic dummies when I was a child… but thanks all the same Gisela!

The Monkey's Paw plays at the Hope until 8th November and I recommend it as a scary seasonal treat and a stark reminder of the past we should never forget! 

Photography all from Cam Harle

 

PS: National Insurance was introduced in 1912 (thanks Lloyd George) but was far from comprehensive whilst workhouses continued in use until the late 1920s and beyond… This “golden age” of our past, when was it exactly?

The ties that bind… Thread, The Hope Theatre

A father with dementia, slowly disappearing in front of his two daughters who know that one day all his inconvenience will be as nothing compared to his absence and then, out of the blue, the threat of losing him in a way they never expected.

Freya Alderson’s play is post-Weinstein, Spacey and now even a prince… it addresses the issue of historical sex abuse not just from the point of view of moral and reputational damage but also the impact on the alleged perpetrator’s family. It traces the unfolding accusations through their reactions as the accelerant of social media brings the family to the brink with father oblivious.

Peter Gibson (Eric Carte) is an established star of stage and screen and the play opens with him holding his Oscar and reliving his acceptance speech before he shrinks in front of us to the bewildered state of advanced dementia. He is looked after by his daughters, the eldest, Vivian (Christina Balmer) is an actress on the verge of a major breakthrough and academy award nomination whilst the youngest, Margo (Maya-Nika Bewley) is a kind of Brit-Kardashian, a social media star, famous for being part of this dynasty and seemingly young beyond her years.

Christina Balmer

The women have different mothers and are a half-generation apart in age and outlook; Vivian was almost a mother to Margo as her mother’s marriage broke down whilst the latter has no experience of the years when the family struggled, Peter yet to establish himself and his first wife – the love of his life – working three jobs.

There’s a lot to unpack in Alderson’s script which is ambitious enough to try and explain how successful men operate(d) and how the women in their lives are complicit or compromised. Margo is a spoilt brat on the opening half, challenging everything without having the answers – the luxury of the younger sibling (trust me, I am that child). Vivian has the success and bearing, seeing herself as the main carer and the one who must steady the family ship. Her agent – and Peter’s long-time friend, Ian (Christopher Jenner-Cole) – is almost part of the family, a former actor who was helped a lot by Peter’s patronage. Margo teases him and persuades him to do a line or two of cocaine as inhibitions are lost and deep wounds are exposed.

Margo and Vivian argue as sister’s do but then a tweet arrives – projected on a screen that doubles as a portrait of Peter and wife Number One – in which a woman has accused Peter of abusing her. Lines are very quickly drawn with Viv all too ready to defend her Dad and Margo all too ready to believe the worst. I felt this transition was slightly contrived as the whole affair suddenly provides one with a purpose as it threatens to derail the other’s career, but that’s drama.

Christopher Jenner-Cole and Maya-Nika Bewley

The family must now not only decide on how to manage the crisis and whether their “tribe” is going to survive at all. The play picks up a fearsome head of pace as the depths of ill-feeling are finally revealed and the interplay between Bewley and Balmer is spectacular as the cliff edge approaches.

Eric Carte is superbly sad as the forlorn Peter and gives us glimpses of the glorious, confident and arrogant man he once was through flashback and the occasional sliver of coherence – it’s so poignant and a character you write off at your peril.

Christina Balmer and Maya-Nika Bewley also offer compelling performances – half-sisters who are more alike than they care to admit and Christopher Jenner-Cole is charismatic with his character still left in the wake of this powerful family turmoil.

Veronica Quilligan has marshalled her players well and the pace never lets up. Riveting!

IThankYou Theatre rating: **** Complex theatre that packs in a lot but always engages in a race to confront the reality of responsibility beyond the ties of family.

Thread plays at the Hope until 7^th December, booking details on the theatre’s website.

Eric Carte

The Jokers… The House of Yes, Hope Theatre

“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.

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... Gill King - lhphotoshots

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.

"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…

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.

Colette Eaton and Fergus Leathem  - photos from lhphotoshots

IThankYou rating: ***** “A Play for Today with some stunning swerves and quite simply one of the finest displays of acting and direction I’ve seen all year.”

The House of Yes runs until 26^th 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…”

Premier league lurking from Ms Eaton.

Hull on Earth… Starved, The Hope Theatre

“You stop having dreams don’t you, when real life keeps on slapping you in the face, down and down…”

There’s a surreal moment near the end of this play when the lighting flicks on an off and the actors move around the central space like two people filmed in stop motion on a CCTV or, more accurately, two rats in a laboratory. The Hope’s promethean stage has a “room” delineated by string, rope and ribbons in which Michael Black (The Lad) and Alana Connaughton (The Lass) spend almost all of their time: they’re right in front of us and yet that thin barrier holds throughout their mesmeric double-header. At one point The Lass looked out of the “window” at the folk next door and I strained to see what she was seeing…

Starved tells of two youngsters on the run from a crime that only gradually becomes apparent. They’re exiled from friends and family, trying to avoid the law in a miserable bedsit on one of Hull’s most unforgiving estates – you can imagine this scenario all over the country and the human dynamics take you away from any knee-jerk political reading. Universal credit gets a mention but only in the context of just one more thing dragging people down; another slap in the face for people who can’t see straight for blinking.

All that matters is the relationship before us, the bigger picture is a luxury they simply cannot afford as they live from hand to mouth on the brink of disaster. The Lass stays in as her fella goes out scavenging bringing them back Cup-a-Soups and, if they’re lucky Rich Tea biscuits although the class divide between even these two is highlighted by her preference for Custard Creams or even Hobnobs.

Alana Connaughton and Michael Black. All shots credit lhphotoshots

She’ll get what she’s given and the two drink to excess every day in the absence of anything better to do and to deaden the ever-present fear that drives them under and further away from facing the consequences of what they have done.

“You push and you push and you push… you make me like this!”

The relationship is skilfully balanced with the couple sniping constantly and making up as they go, there’s affection, jealousy and there’s blame; are they getting to know each other or just doomed? It’s to Michael Black’s credit that the play leaves almost everything open: this is a cycle of dangerous possibilities and yet there’s a distant hope for the young people.

It’s in our consideration of just how the two might move on that the play is “political” as what it presents feels almost like a documentary than a drama. “Everything and everyone is pointless…” and “it’s just getting worse…” how are we to contribute to a solution?

The direction from Matt Strachan enables the two performers to unleash so much emotion within this constrained space – smaller even than usual – and both are amazing to watch, Alana crying real tears of frustration, fear and rage as the man she loves or could love, blows up in her face. Michael Black has a brooding presence and portrays a softness that gives The Lass and us hope.

Caught in a web... Credit lhphotoshots

There’s no doubt they are both sorry for what has happened as well as what they did and they want to change but how can they in the face of consequences which may damn them to this existence for good.

Mention should be made of Ruth Phillips’ movement direction – a lot to choreograph in that imagined room, as well as the design from Esteniah Williams, Lighting from Aiden Bromley and Sound from Nicola Chang.

Ithankyou Theatre rating: **** Another transformative experience at the Hope and a couple I will not soon forget. Their personal becomes our political in subtle and challenging ways, a smartly sculpted story.

Starved plays at the Hope until 3rd August, fortickets and details, please see their website.