I also feel that the production would benefit from an intermission to allow the audience to recoup their thoughts after such intensity, especially as there is a perfect moment in the narrative for this.Ĭarefully crafted, complex, contradictory, and compelling, Birthday Book of Storms has it all. I do however wonder if adding music to the heartfelt moments would add to the tension. I find it clever how the lighting (designed by Natala Gwiazdzinski) emphasises potent emotions felt by the characters. Torrance as Plath and Lentini as Wevill provide powerful depictions of these historical figures.

It must be noted that Roberts looks strikingly similar to Hughes, as if his ghost is haunting us through the play. All the performers strike each word with utter conviction, revealing the bare bones of these damaged people. They uncoil the characters, revealing nuanced, wonderfully tragic human beings in their most vulnerable states. For me, the monologues are the most impactful aspect of the script. One could compare it to violently ripping a page out of Plath’s work. Johns’ sentences are crafted masterfully, with the play reading as a poem does. The play fictionalises Plath and Wevill’s cataclysmic undoing of their relationships with Hughes.Īll of R. Birthday Book of Storms explores the many faces of the inextricably linked writers Sylvia Plath (Anita Torrance), Ted Hughes (Phil Roberts), and Hughes’ lover Assia Wevill (Tania Lentini). What follows is a hurricane of poetry, heartbreak, and love so tumultuous that even as I am writing this review, I can barely do such tragedy justice. There’s an ominous feeling when you walk into the Hannah Playhouse theatre, as Robin Kakolyris (Girl) stares out to the audience – a feeling much akin to the anticipation of a storm. Overall, this is a strong production of a difficult play, and all involved should be commended for taking it on. Wardrobe (Carol Walters) is era-appropriate, although the odd lining and petticoat would stop manmade fabric sticking awkwardly to pantyhose. The pink-based lighting design (Jamie Byas) works well and the sound design (Campbell) containing songs of the era effectively maintains the 80s vibe.

However, it does give them challenges in terms of projection, particularly with many overlapping lines in the script. The T-shaped, three-quarters set (Sam Hearps) provides an intimate space for tough themes and allows the cast to deliver the many asides to the audience in the first act. Susannah Donovan’s Pope Joan is also entertaining as she relates a hilariously horrifying story of giving birth in the middle of a street parade, then gets progressively drunker and can’t remember her Latin.

A highlight is Shemaia Dixon’s Dull Gret, a devil-battling warrior woman painted by Bruegel in 1563, who says little but eats a lot – principally everyone else’s food – in the opening scene of a celebratory dinner. However, the final act in particular – where estranged sisters argue about politics and the disabled daughter of one of them suffers because of their unresolved conflict – feels very relevant to contemporary societal divisions.Īll of the highly competent cast, except Rachel McLean as central character Marlene, play multiple roles and do it with skill, cleverly adapting their voices and bodies to each part. Some of the script inevitably feels dated, especially in the second act in an uncompromising, female-run recruitment agency where other women are considered only worthy of secretarial jobs in cosmetic and knitwear firms. Written in 1982 at the height of Thatcherism in the UK, Top Girls is Caryl Churchill’s landmark feminist lament on motherhood, women in the workplace, ableism, and individualist versus collective thinking.īel Campbell’s new production for Wellington Repertory Theatre wisely treats it as a period piece with 80s staging and costuming.

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