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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewOur Private Life
| Are you thinking or speaking? Is he thinking or speaking? Am I thinking or speaking?-- Mother Does it make any difference? -- Father |
Colin Morgan as Carlos and Eugene O'Hare as Sergio (Photo: Johan Persson) |
Carlos (Colin Morgan), the younger son is homosexual, a bipolar compulsive fantasist on lithium and it is often difficult to know who is telling the truth. The mother (Ishia Bennison) talks nineteen to the dozen and is anarchic and excitable. Adrian Schiller is the psychiatrist hoping to earn enough to buy a 4x4 Cherokhee Jeep, a photograph of which he has framed on his bookcase. Eugene O'Hare is Sergio, the other son and success story of the family who is about to open the town's first shopping centre. Tania (Clare Cathcart) used to work for the Father at his farm and accuses him of molesting her son Joaquin (Joshua Williams).
Simon Scardifield's translation is dynamic and graphic, a thrilling roller coaster ride between the jokey and the serious but making you very glad that this isn't your family! They think their thoughts out loud and refer to this which always makes us smile. It is an issue how little people with mental health problems are believed when they raise complaints but of course those with mental health issues do get abused and need to be listened to. The mother ignores what Carlos says if she doesn't want to hear it, blindly supporting her husband rather than her son, and her retort is to suggest that his lithium dose should be doubled.
Colin Morgan makes us feel great compassion for Carlos. Wide eyed and expressive, as Carlos he sobs uncontrollably —- it is very distressing to watch him but at the same time he can be infuriating! I liked Ishia Bennison's strung mother. She wears a very loud jacket in red and green and purple and orange and yellow with big brass buttons and we get what it says on the jacket! Then there are the nonsensical juxtapositions of what she says, "I'm a modern sophisticated type of woman. I've had cancer." as though having had cancer is some kind of qualification. Ishia's delivery is absolutely brilliant with great comic timing and who will ever be able to forget the sight of the prosthetic breast lying on the stage.
The performances are excellent and the wit zaps around like electricity. The action takes place behind an emerald green screen which opens to show the house Carlos lives in. Lindsey Turner directs keeping everything moving very fast.
What misfires is the seriousness of the subject and the incompatible insensitivity of the lightness of the comedy especially in the uncomfortable final scene. Somehow the jokey delivery trivialises the extent of the damage done to young boys who are victims of serial abusers as we all seek to shy away from the unpalatable truth.
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| Our Private Life
Written by Pedro Miguel Rozo Translated by Simon Scardifield Directed by Lyndsey Turner Starring: Colin Morgan, Anthony O'Donnell, Eugene O'Hare, Adrian Schiller, Ishia Bennison With: Clare Cathcart and Joshua Williams Designed by Lizzie Clachan Lighting: Peter Mumford Sound: Carolyn Downing Running time: One hour 20 minutes without an interval Box Office: 020 7565 5000 Booking to 12th March 2011 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 21 February 2011 performance at The Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square London SW1 W 8AS (Tube: Sloane Square) |
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