Speculations is an absorbing piece of theatre, anchored by a compelling central performance from Janie Dee and framed by a set of rare ambition. Rating
Excellent
In 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead at her home following a barbiturate overdose, ruled a probable suicide. In 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused killer of JFK, was shot by a nightclub owner before he could stand trial. In 1965, investigative journalist Dorothy Kilgallen was found dead in her Manhattan home, apparently as a result of a lethal combination of alcohol and barbiturates. The link between the three deaths was Kilgallen herself, who had been investigating the other two cases when she died, her journalistic instincts suggesting that all was not as it seemed.
Speculations, by Torben Betts, is a dramatisation of the investigations Kilgallen was pursuing at the time of her death. The title and programme make clear that everything shown on stage is speculative, but the evidence presented paints a rather different picture from the historical narrative, suggesting untoward and troubling intervention from the highest levels. The resulting drama is unsurprisingly absorbing.
Janie Dee’s Kilgallen opens the piece seated at her desk, with both costume and furniture realistically evoking a smart Manhattan home of the period. Award-winning Ms Dee needs little introduction and lives up to her reputation: vibrant, impassioned and, given the circumstances, slightly neurotic, progressively stumbling (ever elegantly) through a bottle of vodka. She is the gravitational centre of the piece, around which everyone else rotates.
Her foil is Flo (Gloria Obianyo), an aspiring journalist, currently babysitting Kilgallen’s son. The addition of this entirely fictional character allows Kilgallen to talk Flo through her hypotheses, thus enlightening the audience as well. Flo gives voice to the generation of young African American women shocked to be confronted with evidence that challenges the mainstream narrative. She articulates popular support for the Kennedys alongside frustration at everyday racism.
Lee Newby’s set is extraordinary: a complex technical feat, the like of which I have not seen for some time. The centrepiece and sides rotate independently, allowing the three key settings to be viewed in isolation: Kilgallen’s study and living room, Marilyn Monroe’s bedroom, and a bar in which Lee Harvey Oswald meets Carlos Marcello, the New Orleans head of organised crime. All three are meticulously detailed, heightening the sense that the audience is witnessing real events unfold. There may be one set turn too many, as the audience grows inured to the spectacle, but in a world where pared-down sets are the norm, the effort and effect are to be applauded.
The rest of the cast do well to hold their own in the space left by Dee. Natalie Dunne is a particularly believable Norma Jean, coquettish and troubled: a political pawn assumed to be intellectually inferior.
Under Trevor Nunn’s direction, Speculations is an absorbing piece of theatre, anchored by a compelling central performance from Janie Dee and framed by a set of rare ambition. However you view the theories presented, it is hard to leave without wondering whether Kilgallen’s instincts were right, and indeed project those concerns into the modern world.
Written by Torben Betts
Directed by Sir Trevor Nunn
Produced by Oliver King for Wild Yak Productions
Set and Costume Design by Lee Newby
Lighting Design by Johanna Town
Speculations plays at the Marylebone Theatre until Sunday 17 January 2027.
