MISCONCEPTIONS. To 16 October

Northampton/Tour

MISCONCEPTIONS
by David Lewis

Royal Theatre Northampton To 18 September then tour to 16 October 2004
Runs 2hr 25min One interval

TICKETS: 01604 624811 (Northampton)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 31 August

Serious issues compromised by the need to be deliberately comic.This was originally known as Sperm Wars, a title more accurate but presumably not so hot for marketing purposes. It also referred to what's become the most unsatisfactory aspect of David Lewis's exercise in good old-fashioned middle-class bitterness (marriage as warfare, each spouse sniping like mad and ready to bring in the cavalry whenever available).

Witty ripostes arise from those usual suspects adultery and jealousy. They're rooted, though, in the childlessness of Linda (rising 38) and Matthew (a biology lecturer with a fondness for student Zoe but limitations when it comes to applied impregnation).

Phlegmatic, bike-riding Barry visits as guest inseminator. His calmness offsets the married pair until his contribution becomes somewhat less artificial and he ends up literally enveloped in one of their marriage's sticky patches. That's on the farcical, more contrived wing of the play.

If the piece fails to fly entirely it's because of wing failure. The other wing being the sperm-war issue. This is as contrived as the farcical moments. The idea (presented as feminist student Zoe's but lengthily demonstrated by Matthew) is based on the traditional certainty a woman has of motherhood, contrasting a man's uncertainty over being the father. It's central to Strindberg's The Father but Misconceptions tours in the wake of genetic fingerprinting making paternity an open revelation.

The play's strongest in the central portrait of two people grinding uselessly against each other. Here it gains from two fine performances as the couple racing with near-Strindberg intensity from everyday business to anguish-fuelled fury. Jemma Redgrave's Linda has a protective irony that whips itself up as she lashes out. Timothy Walker's Matthew shields himself with the asserted calm of an intelligent man, a defensive lid that, when it blows, reveals volcanic frustration beneath.

If only Lewis had not felt the need to add overt humour. Then director Tim Carroll and designer Kit Surrey might not have mirrored the jokiness with giant sperm that float away as the play starts. A happier production point has the household artwork turning from abstract to conceptual, intensifying the point that childlessness consumes these people's lives.

Linda: Jemma Redgrave
Matthew: Timothy Walker
Barry: Sam Parks
Zoe: Amy Brown

Director: Tim Carroll
Designer: Kit Surrey
Lighting: Oliver Fenwick
Sound: John Leonard for Aura Sound
Fight director: David Broughton-Davies
Assistant director: Laura Dunton Clarke

2004-09-08 01:12:50