Theatre at the Tabard – until 2 December 2023
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
3***
After a trip to India, 19-year-old Ashley Davenport is determined to follow the spiritual path to enlightenment, to turn his back on life and embrace death. He renounces his inheritance – psychologically – and, unable to kill himself, decides to retire from life and books into an exclusive retirement home.
The residents are baffled about why he would choose to live amongst them, with repeated cries of “He hasn’t lived” and his arrival has repercussions for the staff as well. What follows is an amusing but muddled play that feels as if it’s trying to do too much. Peter Hamilton’s writing is as smart as ever, but packs in culture clashes between teenagers and the elderly, the entitlement of the rich compared to those struggling to survive in a cruel and unfair world, whimsical riffs on happiness, life and death and surreal mystical moments. It feels like three separate competing plays, but Ken McClymont’s smooth direction helps in embracing the puzzling changes of tone and some tweaking and cutting in the future should create a much clearer piece.
Fraser Anthony is wonderful as Ashley – equal parts charmingly innocent and slappably entitled as he frequently mentions the vast amounts of wealth he has psychologically renounced and the batty traditions his family must maintain – the elephant is literally in the room in his family home. Although performed with a deft wit, the residents are recognisable stereotypes – sweet but tough headmistress Rosemary (Josie Ayers), social worker and wannabe artist Judith (Kristin Milward), suave dodgy dealer Johnny (Craig Crosbie) and dour David (Stephen Omer). Their scenes are the highlights of the play but unfortunately, because these characters are so familiar, even Omer’s delightful comic timing can’t prevent his character’s musings feel like an Alan Bennett tribute. Things get more surreal when Judith is once again rejected from heaven and passes on messages from “them,” but most of their scenes feel like the pilot for a sitcom – think OAP Friends meets Last of the Summer Wine.
While the quartet bicker and reminisce, nurse Mr Krish (Yasser Kayani) has a tragi-comic spiral as his self-described mild alcoholism ramps up following Ashley’s arrival. The young staff in the play have a tougher storyline, undocumented immigrants sharing histories of abuse and captivity from their perilous entry to the UK. Their pasts lead Miguel (Baptiste Semin) into fervent religious faith – administering Holy Communion to the residents in one baffling scene – and Kim-Ly (Cara Lee) into hyper-focussed planning to gain UK citizenship and financial security to ensure she is safe from harm – which eventually draws some pretty hateful language from Ashley.
A wonderful cast make the most of their set-pieces and create some magic moments. Ideas and imagination run wild in this play but need to be tamed to produce a more satisfying beast.