REVIEWS REVIEWS
Everything about this play is hot — the heat in the garden, the edgy tension between the two female protagonists, the script and the acting. This is one of Tennessee Williams’ finest plays and contains many of his usual themes — love, jealousy, money and the undercurrent of something darker and more sexual.
Diana Rigg plays Mrs Venable, an ageing mother who will stop at nothing to protect her dead son Sebastian’s name. Victoria Hamilton is Catherine Holly, her young niece who was travelling abroad with Sebastian when he died and whose own life now hangs precariously in the balance. Catherine’s version of the events surrounding Sebastian’s death are apparently so indecent and vile that Mrs Venable has confined her to a mental hospital, where she has undergone every barbaric form of treatment available to “cure” her of her babbling. Nothing has worked — Catherine is heroically sticking to her story. In this final showdown she is brought to Mrs Venable’s garden by one of her jailers, a joyless and authoritative nun played by Virginia Denham. Mrs Venable intends to hear the story from Catherine’s own lips and simultaneously persuade the young doctor who is also present to perform a frontal lobotomy on her, to shut her up once and for all.
Mark Bazely is very good in his role of Doctor Cukrowicz. He is smooth and ambitious, craving the donation that Mrs Venable has promised him, should he perform the operation, and the career boost that it will afford him. At the same time he is idealistic and believes in the science of his trade, but is also scrupulous and aware of the dangers. This is reflected in his smooth white linen suit, smooth waxed hair, and smooth tone of voice and actions. The final members of the cast are Catherine’s mother played by Abigail McKern, and her brother (Patrick Kennedy), who need to silence her in order to receive their share of Sebastian’s will, held in probate by Mrs Venable’s lawyers.
“Suddenly Last Summer” is set in New Orleans but the accents are spot on. The costumes by Susan Coates are detailed and suit each character. The set, by Christopher Oram, transports us to this hot semi tropical garden. Steps leading to French doors are used to great effect by director Michael Grandage, and the atmosphere is enhanced with discreet music and sound by Adam Cork. The direction, cast and details in this play are good, but they are sidelines to what is essentially a two-woman show. These women are magnetic, both aggressive and vulnerable at the same time. Victoria Hamilton plays Catherine with passion, vulnerability and great physical energy. She suffered so much with the death of Sebastian but has been further persecuted and tortured since the event. Hamilton succeeds in portraying a woman on the verge of mental and physical breakdown, but who clings to the fervent belief that she is right, against insurmountable forces. Despite her many long and detailed speeches, many of them delivered almost hysterically, Hamilton is mesmerising and every word weighs with importance. Rigg also manages to imbue Mrs Venerable with a certain vulnerability, despite her hatred, vindictiveness and social superiority. Many of her actions are nasty and the act that she is planning is immoral and evil, but we are nevertheless aware that she has suffered a stroke, lost her only son, and fears the truth and scandal more than anything. The first person to enter the stage, Rigg is commanding but engaging from the moment that we set eyes on her. Even her voice is a mixture of deep authority, purposefulness but cracking with age. This is a battle of two titans. With company like this, is there any wonder that Sebastian was eaten for breakfast? © MW
“Suddenly Last Summer” is in Richmond on the 19th of April until the 24th of April, 2004 and then to the West End.
