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Ella Hickson's acute play about a woman playwright confronting everyday sexism in life as much as in theatre is brilliantly scripted, says LYNNE WALSH
Romola Garai in The Writer
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JOHN GREEN applauds an excellent and accessible demonstration that the capitalist economy is the biggest threat to our existence
The Writer
Almeida Theatre, London
IN THE WRITER, the audience certainly has to put the work in. But the rewards come thick and fast. There's resonance aplenty in Ella Hickson’s energy-packed, layered and complex piece of theatre about theatre, which doesn’t so much play with genre as bend it, snap it to smithereens and put it back together again — or sometimes not.
In a tremendous opening scene, a young woman (Lara Rossi) describes watching a Bullingdon Club-type scenario on stage: “The audience is the same!” she protests. It’s reminiscent of the rape scene in The Accused, when women in cinema audiences experienced men sitting around them whooping and cheering.
Hickson's agenda is set, and the titular protagonist (Romola Garai, pictured) comes across as a desperately uncertain artist but that impression is rapidly dispelled — we realise that she’s not neurotic but anarchic. Her yearning is deep, her vision wide, but directors exist to squash a passion for theatre that “should be insurgent.”
Michael Gould's character is one such director and his finely tuned portrayal just about avoids caricature. He has empathy for the young woman’s desperate desire to be truthful but his understanding is swamped by the financial demands of actually staging anything she writes.
Everyday sexism pervades The Writer, not least in Garai’s relationship with actor, lover and would-be baby-maker (West again). His nesting behaviour elicits the wail: “I feel like I’ve gone see-through!” from her.
Blanche McIntyre’s direction is nothing short of joyous. Simple scene-changes are anything but, as in the tiny moment when Garai walks towards a door, changes her mind, ignores it and walks around the set, revealing her state of mind. She’s not playing this game.
As the narrative shifts, if not lurches, there may be a period when an audience feels dislocated or disappointed. But stick with the writer on her journey and it’s a rewarding trip.
While a rallying call to dismantle capitalism may bring only a belly laugh, there’s a distinct and powerful theme here — such resistance is never futile.
When the lure of money — funding, commissions, a dull job — promises security, reject it. For, as Hickson writes: “Courage is what makes us safe.”
Runs until May 26, box office: almeida.co.uk
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