➤ LONDON STAGE, from p.18
never from a feminist perspective.
Lenu (Niamh Cusack) and Lila
(Catherine McCormack) — remarkable
characters and actors — meet
very inauspiciously as children in
a post-war Naples dominated by
organized crime and an oppressive
family culture from which both
strive to break free in different
ways. Their struggles over decades
dominate the stage for this twopart,
fi ve-hour production that left
me breathless.
Women could not even vote in
Italy until 1946. Lila, forbidden
to continue her education, marries
young and immediately chafes
at being a man’s property. Lenu’s
mother Immacolata (!) (ferocious
Mary Jo Randle) is so ruled by
the Church and macho codes that
her daughter becomes a “whore”
to her when she breaks free from
a stifl ing marriage. There’s even
a gay/ trans sibling (Colin Ryan)
in the Carracci crime family, but
this was before such deviation was
even possibly tolerated.
Their lives are on a rollcoaster
and there is much vengeful violence
— real and imagined — portrayed.
We are constantly wondering
who will live and who will die,
no less whether they will thrive.
Despite 42 characters played by
24 actors, I didn’t need to read the
synopsis to follow and get totally
caught up in a two-hour, 45-minute
saga to rival “The Godfather”
with a focus on Italian women in
the decades that feminism blossomed
despite the rocky soil.
The Royal Court has Gurpreet
Kaur Bhatti’s provocative
new “A Kind of People” (to Jan.
18), directed by Michael Buffong,
opening on a nicely diverse group
of friends, mostly in their late 30s,
enjoying themselves at the fl at of
Gary (Richie Campbell) and Nicky
(Claire-Louise Cordwell), both actors
in top form. That Gary is Black
and Nicky is white seems irrelevant
until Gary’s boss Victoria drunkenly
intrudes and upchucks a few
stupid, racist remarks. From there,
the drama spins out of control like
a Greek tragedy, with some comic
relief and some complications from
the able supporting players such
as Petra Letang as Gary’s sassy
sister Karen.
This isn’t about “snowfl akes.” It’s
about what happens when a person
of color can’t keep up the illusion
that we live in a “post-racial”
society. It’s a heartbreaking tale
— the kind that is not going to go
away until we all deal more honestly
with race.
A new gem from out Mike Bartlett
(“King Charles III,” “Cock”) at
the Kiln Theatre (the old Tricycle)
is called “Snowfl ake” (to Jan. 25),
directed by Clare Lizzimore. A widowed
father, Andy (Elliot Levey),
and his 20-year old daughter Maya
(Ellen Robertson) have evidently
had a massive falling out over Brexit
(or was it?) and haven’t spoken
for several years. For the whole
fi rst act, Andy tries explaining all
this in a monologue in a village hall
where he anxiously awaits a possible
meeting if not reconciliation.
Young Natalie (Amber James), who
is neither his daughter nor known
to him, pops in and they remonstrate
for much of act two about
Andy’s predicament. It’s all about
whether we can we talk — and
whether we can we listen — in societies
with a common language
but few agreed upon values or even
facts. Timely to say the least. Who,
after all, is the snowfl ake?
Boomers protested the war and
started the sexual revolution yet
can long for a yesteryear that never
was. You’d think it would make us
more open to the innovations of the
Millennials. You’d be wrong.
Marvelous performances from
all. No easy answers.
Richard III thought the answers
were easy: kill all who
stand in your way. “Teenage Dick”
(to Feb. 1) by Mike Lew, helmed by
the Donmar’s artistic director Michael
Longhurst, takes that plot
to the cutthroat Roseland High
election for class president where
disabled student Richard Gloucester
(Daniel Monks) takes on the
impossibly handsome and vain
football captain, Eddie Ivy (Callum
Adams), and the perky but
stressed devout Christian, Clarissa
Duke (Alice Hewkin). Richard
is egged on by teacher Elizabeth
York (Susan Wokoma), woos
the unattainable Anne Margaret
(Siena Kelly) for political purposes,
and is both assisted and thwarted
by wheelchair-bound Buck Buck-
MARC BRENNER
Niamh Cusack and Catherine McCormack in April De Angelis’ “My Brilliant Friend” at the Olivier.
MANUEL HARLAN
Richie Campbell in Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti ‘s “A Kind of People,” at the Royal Court.
MANUEL HARLAN
Elliot Levey and Amber James in Mike Bartlett’s “Snowfl ake” at the Kiln Theatre.
➤ LONDON STAGE, continued on p.25
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