Review: That Face, Orange Tree Theatre

Review: That Face, Orange Tree Theatre

Summary

Rating

80

Excellent

With impeccable acting from all That Face captures the unravelling of a family torn apart by alcoholism. Intent on survival each character becomes increasingly self-obsessed regardless of the harm they cause.

Exemplary acting characterises this production of That Face, currently playing in the round at the Orange Tree Theatre. First shown 15 years ago at The Royal Court, it remains poignant and relevant today. 

The centrepiece of the small stage is a bed. At times a dormitory bed, a hospital bed, or sanctuary for lovers, it becomes dank and dirty, with detritus building up underneath it; a metaphor for the accumulating issues the family face, and their inevitable slide into self-destruction. Eleanor Bull’s set design works perfectly, as actors move in and out of the action via the gangways, brushing past the audience as they go.

Mia (Ruby Stokes), a teenager in boarding school, has stolen a reasonable amount of her mother’s Valium which she gives to a 13-year-old newbie as part of an onboarding ritual. Unfortunately the dosage she gives is excessive, resulting in the hospitalisation of the child. Mia is sent home, but only after the school phones her estranged father following a worrying conversation with Martha (her mother). Martha remembers nothing the following morning. On Mia’s arrival back home it is clear that Martha does not want her there and the relationship between Martha and Mia’s brother Henry is worrying to say the least. An alcoholic, Martha is dependent on the teenage boy, who has dropped out of school to look after her, and there is more than a whiff of sexual inappropriateness about their interactions. Mia and Henry’s father is on his way back, leaving his new, second family back in Hong Kong whilst he “sorts” the situation out and what follows is a heart-breaking account of a fractured but ultimately loving family. 

Parentification is when the roles of parent and child are reversed to the effect that the child becomes the protector, counsellor, or confidant to the parent; proven to be very harmful to the child, who assumes emotional responsibility beyond their years. They feel responsible for any bad things that happen and carry that guilt into adulthood. And this is the crux of this play. Henry (Kasper Hilton-Hille) is beyond exemplary in the role of Henry and his acting prowess shines out above and beyond what is already a talented group. Henry loves his mother, whilst begging her to stop drinking.  He feels guilty that she has not stopped, as if it is his fault, and so tries hard to hide the evidence from everyone. He is both adult and child, humiliated but protector. It is heartbreaking and Martha’s emotional manipulation of him is shocking. 

The alcoholism at the heart of this dysfunctional family has far reaching affects: it has driven a husband and wife apart, which in turn isolated the children. Mia, abandoned by both parents, moves between flat and boarding school with no parental care, meaning she has little sense of culpability or interest in anything other than her own hedonistic pleasures. But it is Henry that really suffers. This is a family who have no financial worries and yet ceaselessly inflict harm on each other and themselves. The tragedy feels Shakespearean in its structure whilst absolutely current. And of course Niamh Cusack as Martha is at the centre of the maelstrom: manic, manipulative and magnificent. As ever.

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Written by: Polly Stenham
Directed by: Josh Seymour
Design by: Eleanor Bull

That Face plays at Orange Tree Theatre until 7 October. Further information and bookings can be found here.