Hampstead Theatre, London – until 4 March 2023
Reviewed by Celia Armand Smith
4****
Based on the true story of the dashing army deserter Anastasius Linck who, in 1720s
Prussia, was sentenced to death by sword (a man’s death) while their wife got three years in
the spinning rooms at the penitentiary. Linck & Mülhahn, written by Ruby Thomas and
directed by Owen Horsely, is a 5 act retelling that blurs the lines between truth and fiction,
and explores what it is to live as your true self.
The play opens with an older, quieter woman (Marty Cruickshank) reminiscing about love,
but that all suddenly changes when a group of young soldiers crash onto the stage,
accompanied by the likes of The Sex Pistols and The Clash. All the while, the stubborn and
argumentative Catharina Mülhahn (Helena Wilson) watches the minutes of her life (she’s 22) tick by and loudly professes “I wish I was dead” to her mother (Lucy Black). Soon, she meets the handsome Linck and a relationship is formed which breaks through the rigid rules of “society” and leads to a marriage (despite her mother’s best efforts to marry her off to other gentlemen) that puts them in a precarious position within the boundaries of the law.
Their relationship is set against the backdrop of a cloth shop, where the threads and spools
of time and place, truth and fiction, are woven together to create the fabric of Thomas’
narrative. The boxy rotating set designed by Simon Wells, made of semi opaque panels and
beams, provided a perfect backdrop to the action, creating streets, rooms, passageways,
and levels within its simplistic form.
The court scene has some slightly pantoesque moments that threaten to overshadow the
seriousness of the charges that the main characters are facing. The sudden change in
sound and lighting (designed respectively by Max Pappenheim and Matt Daw) can be a bit
jarring, however it was largely effective, and at times prevented the action from becoming
too absurd. It also gave the play a sense of being beyond time, which seemed right and
proper given the contemporary relevance of the subject matter.
Both the leading actors, Maggie Bain and Helena Wilson are excellent and intelligent,
blending comedy with a quiet longing, with fantastic support from Lucy Black as Catharina’s mother who goes from the weary and comical to the tortured as she realises that she has condemned her daughter in court. The main characters are supported by a cast of funny and kind soldiers, maids, judges, and cloth shop customers played by Daniel Abbott, David Carr, Marty Cruickshank, Kammy Darweish, Qasim Mahmood, Leigh Quinn and Timothy Speyer.
Ruby Thomas’ Linck & Mülhahn sets out to shed light on the historical queer experience,
and by doing so shows that even though progress has been made, there is still a long way to
go.