Speaking in Tongues November 8, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , trackbackOne of the joys of live theatre is the way an ensemble piece grows and develops during the run. A company working a repertoire builds an organic thing far greater than the original parts and, at its best, culminates in the magic that was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Histories Cycle.
In the six weeks between my first outing to Speaking in Tongues at the end of its preview period and my second last night, the four-person cast of John Simm, Kerry Fox, Lucy Cohu and Ian Hart have gone from giving us a well-executed, gripping thriller to something mesmerising.
Speaking in Tongues is a complex interplay of nine characters whose intertwined lives explore marital and extra-marital relationships in early middle-age. Adultery may imply a lack of love, or not. It may be easier to wish a partner dead, than simply to leave. Some broken hearts never mend, and some may never get close enough to have the chance. The couples share the stage, having private conversations with each other, sometimes speaking in tandem, sometimes seperately.
Kerry Fox, the New Zealand actor who first made her name as the disturbed genius Janet Frame in Angel at My Table, gives us the nervous, disappointed Jane, lacking self esteem and regretting her childlessness, then switches to the more confident but deeply troubled Sarah who lets men become dependent on her and then rejects them.
John Simm, of Life on Mars fame, starts and finishes as Leon Zac, the urbane policeman slightly overawed by his successful wife who has a one night stand with Jane, and in between plays Nick, falsely accused of murder.
Lucy Cohu, who I saw most recently in Channel 4’s Cape Wrath with David Morrissey, plays Sonya, who doesn’t sleep with Jane’s husband, and leaves Leon when he confesses, and then Valerie, child abuse victim and psychotherapist. Finally Ian Hart is Jane’s husband and then Valerie’s.
Simm and Fox particularly have that remarkable talent of completely changing their physical appearance when they switch roles. Plain Jane and professional Sarah would barely appear the same if standing side-by-side.
The rapport between Simm and Cohu, the couple who’s love survives infidelity, is so strong you’d think they were off-stage lovers (though I’ve no idea of or wish to comment on their private lives), and seems to have grown during the run. In a similar way, the sad chill between Fox and Hart as Fox confesses that she doesn’t trust him as she feels she should is heart-rending.
This is an intelligent, complex drama delivered with fulsome depth, and is highly recommended.
Speaking in Tongues runs at the Duke of York’s until 12 December. Seats F16-17 in the stalls gave a good view though tonight’s in C11-12 was better. The theatre wasn’t completely full, and there are bargains to be had. And many thanks to the nice people who run the facebook group for the free tickets I won.
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