Festival Theatre, Malvern – until Saturday 23rd April 2022
Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau
4****
The Homecoming was written by Harold Pinter in 1964. It came at the height of his powers and critical acclaim as a playwright and is widely regarded as his finest work. The story involves Teddy bringing his wife to the family home to meet his relatives for the first time, indeed it is the first time he has been back for many years.
Way before the curtain rises there is a gnawing, ominous noise present. So it seems only fitting that I should start by commending Sound Designer Max Pappenheim for his exceptional work. He creates a sense of suspense and menace with this soundscape, which continues in the interval too, effectively extending the stage into the auditorium and us into the psychological action which never lets up. It reminded me of the great David Lynch; being very á la Twin Peaks.
The curtain rises to the other production masterstroke – the use of the dark stage, blue spot thrown on stationary characters and discordant chord to evoke menace. A thrilling effect that was engagingly filmic.
So to the family, who make the Addams look functional! A deeply unpleasant bunch. Odd in the extreme, full of anger and violence. Keith Allen gives an accomplished performance as the odious patriarch Max. There is very little of the comedian here, producing an impressive intensity as he conveys a real sense of being the source of the family’s hateful traits and internal squalor.
Lenny (Mathew Horne) is wildly dysfunctional, like a worrying Kray brother! I really enjoyed Horne’s delivery of the various meandering lines of dialogue which gave us some erudite vocal dexterity and verbiage. His gentleman thug had more than a touch of Peaky Blinders about it and was a joy to behold.
The rest of the cast’s acting was equally enjoyable with a wonderfully otherworldly performance from elder brother Teddy (Sam Alexander) and Ruth (Shanaya Rafaat) and younger brother Joey (played by Geoffrey Lumb) who seems like he’s taken too many punches for anyone’s good, rounding out the immediate family. Uncle Sam (sympathetically played by Ian Bartholomew) added a much needed touch of normality. The pauses in dialogue were very stylised and the reactions of the characters to the plot were strangely muted. This all adds to the oddity – like when horror film producers tilt the camera at weird angles to unsettle the viewer. If that was the intention (I’m sure it was) it worked perfectly. This felt like a Christmas episode of Eastenders. If you like that you’ll enjoy this. For me it was missing a final act. No criticism of the actors, just a comment on my feelings regarding the play itself. Perhaps that was the author’s aim (the programme certainly mentions Pinter’s preference for things being left unexplained).
At the conclusion, I found myself wondering what I had just seen but enjoying the evening out nonetheless. Well done to cast and crew on a fine production of a genuinely quirky piece of theatre.