Some Woman

I got a return ticket to see this in the almost sold out run for this play with Anne-Marie Duff doing her stuff as Julie, the woman who gets pushed just a bit too far.

Anne-Marie Duff doing her stuff is both the strength and the weakness of this production.  Not only is she playing yet another middle aged woman pushed past her breaking point, but the situation she finds herself in feels so familiar it made me feel tired even if it’s a little unlikely in some of the detail.  This is designed to show what women, older women in particular,  are confronted with everyday, and it does that very well.  The little disrespects and rudeness that wouldn’t be directed towards a man, the the structures and systems that mean that women start off with a disadvantage, and then men who know their power and how to use it.  Alongside the general crap that women have to deal with, this also highlights that middle aged and older women become invisible not just to men, but sometimes to women too.  The way that her daughters didn't really see her as her own person, instead just looking at her through the lense of being their mother with all of the expectations and weight that comes with that was good in showing that the disrespect is coming from all angles.  They don't understand the pressures on her or, yet, why she has made the choices she has.  

Duff is great in her performance as you would expect, weary and worn down, but also standing up for herself unexpectedly, and then becoming the mouse that roared.   None of this is particularly new, but it did make me angry that this stuff still needs to be said.  And the title did a great job in summarising in two words what this play is all about.  Who would want to be described so dismissively as 'some woman'?

Overall this is a great production, I loved the set with the smooth changes between Julie's home and the inpersonal official/public spaces.  The sound design was clever, with the sound of the trains just present enough to be constantly unsettling.  Great cast as you would expect and the script was good in general, keeping things moving forward at a fast rate, although it was clunkily didactic sometimes and did tip into cliche on occasion, even in the confrontation with Mr Blake (Stephen Wight, who was absolutely brilliant, although I didn't quite believe the slightly speechifying dialogue). But then I think this play is dealing with archetypes rather than specifics so I was happy to go with it as it definitely had the desired effect - the stillness in the auditorium during that confrontation in the kitchen was tangible - the air felt thick with the breaths being held.  The comparisons I made here were with Inter Alia and Prima Facie and I think that they have the edge on a believable legal situation, but from a human perspective, Duff's character and performance are spot on.  What middle aged or older woman hasn't been driven to distraction by something very like this? 

I had a restricted view seat which can be a problem in this theatre but actually it didn’t matter too much as this is such a wordy play..  And I had friendly neighbours, all also single theatregoers, so we had a good chat before and after - no interval sadly but I understand why. 

Timely in light of the Cornell seven and the latest SNL debacle, this highlights that unfortunately this stuff still needs to be said in the UK, and is a good illustration of the impacts on ordinary lives. Worth a watch.