HOME ,I'M DARLING AT THE ARTS THEATRE
A new play with something to say is the essence of theatre. Sure, it’s fun to see a re-run or makeover – to luxuriate in the familiar lines and predicted twists of old favourites. But yet again The Arts have opted for the real thing – a piece to challenge what modern life is all about and entertain an audience at the same time.
Home, I’m Darling fires on all cylinders . Anna Fleische as Set and Costume Designer must have had a field day with this cunning chance to re-visit the 1950s . The kitchen is a brilliantly realized dream of post war home down to the detail of its yellow cabinets , bulbous fridge and natty scaled down dining furniture. It throbs with nostalgia, the living room exults in Festival of Britain furniture with eclectic wallpaper on every wall. From the sun ray mirror to the curved bamboo cocktail bar with shaker a -ready every detail is there as the c urtain rises. Are we in a little known Fifties’ classic? Or is something else going on?
Gorgeous Judy, a brilliantly conveyed Jessica Ransom is a natural in her flouncy frock as she prepares her husband Johnny’s breakfast before he flies of , a happy , catered -for spouse, to work at a kind of Estate Agent. Neil McDermott is Johnny, a man manoeuvred into declarations of delighted contentment, he seems a perfect incarnation of Fifties Man, sped on his way by a winsome wife, who lays is all on, “ I like the way you woke me up this morning” he purrs as his Judy pours the tea. He pops on his handsome brown trilby and leaves for the office. But things are not as they seem. Johnny has much more to him than a cut-out Madmen macho male and as the play devolves, he reveals his true self. Judy lets us in on the act earlier on. As the front door closes, she whips out her Apple laptop.
We are not in the fifties after all From the moment she saunters diplomatically on to the scene, a powerful Diane Keen as Judy’s mother Sylvia makes it crystal clear she hardly recognizes the gentle loving fantasy world her daughter adores. In a powerful tirade against the bigotry and privation of Fifties life, this famous admired actress gives us the true version straight from the shoulder. In some ways this is the central dichotomy of the play.
The set-up is inspired. The dancing in between scenes evokes he fabulous erotic verve of the Lindy Hop era – and Cassie Bradley and Matthew Douglas have that off to a fine art – as well as deftly filling the roles of friends Fran and Marcus . Cassie is not just a stunning dancer but the deluded spouse of a man, Marcus, who is not who she thinks him to be. Shanez Pattni as boss woman Alex provides a refreshing natural counterpoint of modernity to the madness of nostalgia. But it is the couple trapped in a mad mise en scène of their own making who give this excellent contemporary pay its dazzling polish.“ It is about expectations in a relationship’ one audience member murmured to me in the Cloakroom – and indeed it very much is. But it’s also about attitudes to the past. And it does explain why so many people subscribe to the fiction of a gilded history, when, as Diane Keen the mother points out it was a grim time, illuminated by a Coronation. No wonder today’s subjects have little interest in today’s replica of 1953, there is just so much more colour and life to look at than back then.
