Review: The Smile of Her, Marylebone Theatre

The play The Smile of Her, written and performed by Christine Lahti is a powerful memoir of growing up in post-50s USA. Here, in a family of six children, with a dutiful full-time, apple-pie mom and a well-respected local doctor as a father, they were happy and aspirational. Your all-American family.

However, Lahti scours the family album of events and explores her rising awareness of feminism against the background of a stifling family existence, where smiles and endeavour were expected, and goals were to be reached at whatever the cost. In parallel to her own personal awakening to misogyny and patriarchy, she parallels the relentless everyday role of her dimpled-faced mother, subjugated by the social mores of the time. She smiles and preens and defers first to her husband and then to her children as Lahti demands to rise. In doing so, she looks below the surface of this all-American family to find secrets in plain sight, of mental health issues, coercion, bullying and even rape.

Lahti delivers a performance that holds our attention, captures our hearts, and shines a light on the secrets that lie beneath the ostensibly perfect family. The Smile of Her is directed with studied detail by Mêlisa Annis with moves that add interest or suggest an emotional gear change or simply allow for a lull and a change of atmosphere. Physically, it is a well-orchestrated piece. Sarah Beaton designed the set, props and costume, giving clean, unfussy lines that allowed the focus to be on the unfolding personal narrative. The spacious black box is picture-framed in white neon light at times, like a digital photo display screen playing through the rolling memories of family occasions. Centre stage, on the raised, carpeted platform, is a simple white sofa, plastic-wrapped to keep the surface clean, that reflects this seemingly happy, well-heeled Michigan family from which Lahti came.

The backdrop is a rear gauze providing a glimpse into the past, where childhood realisations and revelations link the past and present, with images coming and going, fragmented and yet connected. Hazy childhood interactions are framed by the gauze, appearing to recall or verify moments of past family life. Isabella Ford and Jesamine-Bleu Gibbs alternate the young girl recalling moments of family life.

One might be forgiven for thinking this recollection of 60s family life is gloomy and forbidding, but the skill of the brightly clad Lahti glowing in red is impressive. She never alienates the audience. Rather, she takes them with her to explore behaviours. She is generous enough to be furiously critical and yet touchingly appreciative at times, as she tries to understand why the dominating father has a seemingly tender heart, to which she was denied access. She breaks free from the shackles of this restrictive mid-America and finds new expression through acting. However, she soon realises that her family dynamic reflected the wider world and the very qualities she raised herself up from were now found across her industry. Lahti is a raconteur, a storyteller with an impressive range of tools to engage the audience; with a self-effacing quip, a therapy anecdote, a change of voice to suggest character, or a swift gesture to indicate an attitude, a critique or a revelation. If she got the desire to go on pushing for gender equality from her mother, it seemed she also got something from her dad – a tender heart. Hers is more inclusive, as she never feels mean – regretful, frustrated, angry but appreciative too as she demands the freedoms that all of us should enjoy, in a safe and trusting environment.

Writer: Christine Lahti
Director: Mêlisa Annis
Set, Costume and Prop Designer: ‍Sarah Beaton
Sound Designer: David Gregory
Lighting Designer: Matt Haskins
Projection Designer: Matt Powell
General Manager: Wild Yak
Produced by Nina Tassler, Jenny Warburg and Wild Yak in association with Gloria Steinem.

The Smile Of Her is playing at Marylebone Theatre until Saturday August 29