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Mother Clap's Molly House
by Lizzie Loveridge
|
Molly. 1719 1. A familiar pet form of Mary; occasionally applied to a prostitute. 2. An effeminate man or boy: a milksop --- The Shorter Oxford Dictionary |
Martin Chamberlain, Philip Ralph, Tom McKay
(Photo: Mark Douet)
|
Ravenhill's ongoing agenda is the relationship between business and sex, the way in which business evolves to cater for sexual predilection. Mother Clap's Molly House places the scenes from 1726 alongside those from a raunchy gay party set in 2001 in the London flat of young wealthy gay men. There are plenty of parallels between the two. In the modern scenes we see gays as discriminating consumers of luxury goods. In 1726 the dreaded sexual disease is "the pox" or syphilis. In 2001 at least one man is, as is Ravenhill himself, HIV positive.
The childless Mrs Tull (Deborah Findlay) is left running a dress hire shop, Mother Tull's Tally Shop, after the death of her husband (Iain Mitchell). She rents out dresses to prostitutes which also brings her into contact with the brothel keepers. After she finds her apprentice Martin (Paul Ready) trying on dresses with an apprentice from another firm, Thomas (Dominic Cooper) she decides that a better business might be had running a house for men. Dubbed by them as "mother", this also fulfils her maternal instincts. The parallel story is less developed and has less onstage time (none at all in the first act). It is set in the flat of staid Will (William Osborne) and multi-partnered Josh (Dominic Cooper). Edward (Iain Mitchell), an older man who is making a video, has trouble getting into his bondage outfit and Tom (Paul Ready) an ingenue from the north is at his first gay party after "coming out". Phil (Con O'Neil) has arrived with Edward but onstage he and Josh get it together (she says euphemistically).
There are wonderful performances from Deborah Findlay as the affable Mrs Tull and I especially liked Danielle Tilley as Amy, a virgin fresh from the country who cannot wait for the excitement of London life as a whore, but who gets pregnant and is aborted bloodily -- thankfully, not onstage. Ravenhill has given Amy some very funny and frank but innocent lines. Praise too goes to Princess Seraphina (Ian Redford) for his tender portrait of a transvestite, a big lad in a frock who loves women. Paul Ready has two good performances as the apprentice confused about his sexuality and as the stereotypical new boy at the party. The rest of the cast are more than competent under the direction of Nicholas Hytner who has a deft touch for plays with historical interest. Giles Cadle's set cleverly serves as both the shop of 1726 and the modern warehouse flat of 2001. There are songs from the company to add to the jubilation, some fun dance from men in frocks and ballet and music from a sprightly Eros (Paul J Medford) who makes the three hundred year fashion switch well.
There was a celebratory air at the National's Lyttelton last night, as there often is for the opening of a new production, and it is true that the eighteenth century part of Mother Clap's Molly House is an uplifting play in which sodomy is celebrated. While I laughed at Ravenhill's funny lines, I came away with a feeling of emptiness. I cannot think of an expression which doesn't have some sort of sexual "double entendre!" I don't think I took the "arse wins over cunt every time" line as a personal affront, so much as I feel that if all emotion, love, tenderness are stripped away from sexual acts, the resulting hedonism seems less then pleasurable. Maybe that is Ravenhill's point.
| Mother Clap''s Molly House
Written by Mark Ravenhill Music by Matthew Scott Directed by Nicholas Hytner With: Deborah Findlay, Iain Mitchell, Paul Ready, Ian Redford, Maggie McCarthy, Danielle Tilley, Debbie Chazen, Katy Secombe, Jay Simpson, William Osborne, Dominic Cooper, Con O'Neill, Daniel Redmond, Paul J Medford, Deborah Asante, Martin Chamberlain, Pamela Hardman, Luke Jardine, TomMcKay, Iain Pearson, Philip Ralph, Ali Sichilongo. Design: Giles Cadle Lighting Design: Rick Fisher Sound: Neil Alexander, Colin Pink Music: Paul Frankish Choreographer: Jane Gibson Running time: Two hours forty minutes with one interval Box Office: 020 7452 3000 Booking to October 26th 2001 On tour 9th-13th October Theatre Royal Bath, 4th-8th December New Theatre Cardiff. Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on the 4th September 2001 performance at the Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 |
