THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW. To 12 October.
London
THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW
by D.H. Lawrence.
Young Vic To 12 October 2002.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat + Wed 2,9 Oct at 2pm.
Runs 2hr 30min One Interval.
TICKETS 020 7928 6363.
www.youngvic.org
Review Timothy Ramsden 17 September.
A vigorous, perceptive revival that emphasises Lawrence's vision of sex as fire in the loins rather than Shaw's middle-class couples for whom it's a spark in the head.
Sithee' lad and lass, tho' its man's world, this o' pit. If tha weer ta write nowadays 'bout life in pit village nigh on an 'undred year gone by, tha'd like as not end up wi' nobbut miners coughin' oop theer lungs and climax wi' a pit disasster to boot. Not as 'ow it weern't like that offen as not, but it waar'unt way o' young Davey Lawrence.
He weer from a pit village hissen tha sees not in North, mind yer, but in t'Midlands - Eastwood, reet by Nottingham. And 'e weren't mucking about wi' no mellerdrama cliches. No, 'e hit home straight weer it hurt. In the clinging relations of women to men the great soft babbies, allus wanting someone ter mother 'em and the way self-dignity, thoompin' agin emotional needs, weer allus messin' folk about.
If you've persevered this far, you'll stand some chance of getting to grips with David Lan's revival of this 1912-set play. But be warned: these characters are not cute, quaint, or anything else cosy and good-humoured. This is a tough world, men came home covered in coaldust, and as Luther Gascoyne (here pronounced 'Gaskin, which seems likely enough) says, insisted on eating their tea in that blackened state, only 'weshing' themselves afterwards.
Francis O' Connor sets the miner's cottage as a coal-seam, with the black mineral above, below and round about: coal, black, silent, ungiving, determines these people's lives. When a neighbour comes to speak, they're kept at the door. Only when it's established it's something 'particular' do they get coldly invited in.
Annette Badland gives a sympathy to her bad news that Mrs Gascoyne's Luther, new-married to airs-and-graces Minnie, recently made young Bertha Purdy pregnant. The settlement of this wrong by £40 compensation kick-starts the emotional imbroglio.
Mrs Purdy's lines suggest a harder approach Lan and Badland skilfully soften the manner, providing the sole glimpse of sympathy in the only relation that steps outside the 'Gaskin' family.
Lan steps as far from colliery cliche as he can (he might have foregrounded the men's strike more); Matthew Dunster shows young Joe's thoughtful side, yet also makes him a bright, humorous person, and a capable mimic his mucking around down the pit's landed him a broken arm without compensation. Yet the jesting's finally enveloped by the theme: he messes around with Minnie because she's safely married to his brother.
Paul Hilton's tall, lithe Luther lacks ambition. The production lets its histrionics show through the characters at moments, but gives admirable space to the crushing moment when his failure of will leads to his destructive response to his wife's aspirations, control giving way to fury with the fine art she brings back from Manchester.
Anne-Marie Duff lightens her sombre role with moments of play and gentleness, but it's significant an early spat with Luther arises from his coal-stained hands dirtying her white blouse. And there's not a moment's softness in Marjorie Yates's granite mother, unforgiving as the black-rock on which she's built her life.
Mrs Purdy: Annette Badland.
Minnie: Anne-Marie Duff.
Joe: Matthew Dunster.
Luther: Paul Hilton.
Mrs Gascoyne: Marjorie Yates.
Cabman: Danny Rees.
Director: David Lan.
Designer: Francis O' Connor.
Lighting: Matthew Richardson.
Sound: Crispian Covell.
Dialect/Voice coach: Neil Swain.
2002-09-18 11:11:16