It's very easy to be cynical about casting big names to appear at West End theatres.
It would put bums on seats to take in ordinary or obscure material.
To be honest, we decided to go entirely because of Keira Knightley, Elisabeth Moss (Zoe Bartlett from West Wing and Peggy Olsen from Mad Men) and Ellen Burstyn.
I had heard of the play previously but did not know much beyond the name.
Which is a shame.
It's a telling of small-town prejudices and metaphoric witch-hunts, not unlike The Crucible.
Two young teachers, played by Moss and Knightley, run a small-scale girls school, which becomes threatened by accusations that the teachers are lovers.
The author Lillian Hellman was advised by Dashiell Hammett, which makes the pacing issues of the first half all the more bizarre.
Personally, I think it'll be better to have the accusation made public before the interval cliff-hanger and instead close the half on some of the off-stage machinations depicted in the second half.
The set of the school strongly evokes, to me at least, rural New England.
Whilst the accents waver a bit of some of the British cast-members, including Keira, the acting is solid. Keira's anger is electrifying in the second half. The comparative unknown Bryony Hannah is remarkable as Mary, the girl who provokes all the trouble. Her portrayal is a delicate balancing act as the audience would at first assume she is lying but Hannah causes you to believe that maybe she is actually telling the truth.
It's a very affecting play. My only caveat is try not to sit in the upper circle as it's insanely steep up in the heights of the Comedy Theatre.
It's a very affecting play. My only caveat is try not to sit in the upper circle as it's insanely steep up in the heights of the Comedy Theatre.
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