THE WOMAN BEFORE. To 18 June.

London

THE WOMAN BEFORE
by Roland Schimmelpfennig translated by David Tushingham

Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 18 June 2005
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & 16 June 3.30pm
Audio-described 4 June 3.30pm
BSL Signed 8 June
Runs 1hr 20min No interval

TICKETS: 020 7565 5000
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 19 May 2005

Greek tragedy medeated for the modern age.This palatially elegant, faded room might be the inside of a haut bourgeois Tardis. Certainly Roland Schimmelpfennig's swift, brief drama has enough time-shifts to leave even an experienced Dr Who asking When are we? though they're measured in hours and minutes rather than aeons. Forward and backward flashes between scenes keep providing new contexts, modifying perceptions of events.

These byte-sized shifts are set against a 19 year marriage, a relationship from 24 years ago, and a declaration of eternal love. If the 2 scales clash, so do the expectations of married man Frank and the old flame who turns up to make her claim on his youthful vows.

Schimmelpfennig draws on Greek myth and tragedy, denuded of ancient oratory. His protagonist has waited over 2 decades to claim life-long love and now stands laconically on the door-step, only entering her lover's married home horizontally, having been laid out by a stone. The man who's deserted her is shown up less through that desertion than by his evasiveness with his wife Claudia. The disorienting time jumps, playing with expectations of what has happened and is happening, filling in the blanks detective story or quiz-show like, prepare for the final surprises but not the sudden melodramatic plot irruptions.

The play adds a new generation, showing a son likely to follow father's ways and his girlfriend, desperately in love, adolescent and innocent. Yet in its modernistic reserve, the play denies a final exploration of the mind of the title character.

Helen Baxendale, in signature bright green, is suitably controlled and purposive, Saskia Reeves showing all the emotion as a wife whose life is suddenly disturbed, with Nigel Lindsay a cold, awkward figure, tall and rock-like in appearance but entirely self-concerned. Tom Riley is believably someone who will grow the same way (no wonder his girlfiend's father dislikes his shifty eyes). Georgia Taylor's Tina, usually isolated in the street outside, is earnestly devoted with an expressiveness that will filter through disappointment to create the next generation of Baxendale's character. Richard Wilson directs with his usual scrupulous eye and pointed sense of truthful detail.

Frank: Nigel Lindsay
Claudia: Saskia Reeves
Romy Vogtlander: Helen Baxendale
Andi: Tom Riley
Tina: Georgia Taylor

Director: Richard Wilson
Designer: Mark Thompson
Lighting: Johanna Town
Sound: Ian Dickinson
Company voice work: Patsy Rodenburg
Fight director: Terry King
Assistant director: Dan Sherer

2005-05-20 07:53:47