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Calico
(Duke of York's)
Described
as a fictional story inspired by fact, Michael Hastings' new play
is a fascinating family portrait that unravels a
web of secrets
within the Paris household of the Irish novelist James Joyce.
| "This
production is a rare example of a powerful original drama that
arrives in the West End without the endorsement of an earlier
run at the National or elsewhere..." |
He's
living there in 1928 with Nora - the woman he left Ireland with
23 years earlier but never officially married - and their two adult
children, an aspiring opera singer Giorgio and an increasingly disturbed
daughter Lucia, who falls in love with her father's new assistant...a
young man called Samuel Beckett.
The play, however, isn't so much about either Joyce or Beckett's
work but about the writers, both of whom – whether on the page,
stage or offstage – were famously inscrutable.
It also casts a disturbing light on the fate of Lucia, who did in
fact end her days in a Northampton mental asylum.
galvanising
Among the superb ensemble cast animating Edward Hall's galvanising
production, up-and-coming film star Romola Garai stands out as Lucia
in a performance of shattering intensity.
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Completely
compelling: Imelda Staunton as Joyce's partner Nora
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As
her mother, desperate to maintain a veneer of respectability for
her damaged family, Imelda Staunton, too, is completely compelling.
The production is also an increasingly rare example of a powerful
original drama that arrives in the West End without the endorsement
of an earlier run at the National Theatre or elsewhere.
It proves, happily, that the West End isn't quite lost to musicals
and tourist fodder.
Agree
or disagree with our review? Add your comments below...
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