Hansard
Lyttleton Theatre. September 11, 2019
The opportunity to see Lyndsey Duncan and Alex Jennings directed by Simon Godwin is too good to miss. This is a new play by brand new playwright Simon Woods. He takes us to the Cotswolds at the end of the 80s.
Robin is a junior minister. Diana is his wife. They paint the picture of the family unit yet what lies beneath is a really rather sorrowful personal tragedy.
So we get layers – the politics of left vs right, the politics of a marriage laid bare as they take well aimed potshots at each other. It’s a little like a twisted well-practised tango as each recognises the buttons the other is going to press.
But this is so much more than that. It deals with the vote on Section 28 of the Local Government Act of the 80s that stated that a local authority
“shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”
In the Directors discussion at the end (I’m a lucky lass to have been invited) Simon Godwin talked of how this Act has reared its head again in recent years and a case in Birmingham where families objected to homosexuality being taught in schools.
In this play we understand that this Act splits this family to its very core.
It’s beautifully acted and staged. And Godwin is joined again by his designer from Ant and Cleo, Hildegard Bechtler. The set is very typical of a large Cotswold kitchen and larder and is tinged with sadness – the shadow of a painting that’s been removed remains clearly on a prominent wall.
At 1hr 25 this is a total winner for the audience and actually quite the feat for the actors who spend the first hour verbally sparring at quite a rate.
4/5 A true tragedy and a joy to see these two on stage together.
