February 27, 2010
STAGE
Two Women
Theatre Royal Stratford East
3/5
IN A NUTSHELL
In a bruising interpretation of a Martina Cole novel, gutsy East End housewife Sue Dalston faces a life in jail for murdering her abusive husband.
REVIEW
Truth be told, I was not the target demographic for this one. In a cardboard world where all men are bullies, paedos or wimps and the middle class are cold, calculating snobs, I was lucky to escape this girls' night out without with my hickory dickory docked.
I'm not the right sort, as it goes. End of. That's not say that I didn't admire the sheer balls-out, never-knowingly-undersold interpretation of Martina Cole's pulpy novel which plays like EastEnders sans the genteel sophistication.
Rape, incest, slags, sluts, sorts, backhanders and brasses busy the stage to recreate the frantic (too hurried) tale of an abusive marriage over the decades; a story that sees wife Sue banged up at the outset for 'ammering bad boy hubbie Barry.
Sue Dalston is brilliantly played by feisty Cathy Murphy - part Green Street bruiser, part raw nerve in trackie bottoms - while Marc Bannerman's Barry is such a wide-boy he sidles on stage like a crab (reflecting the STDs he's brewing in his callards).
Look out, too, for excellent support from Alison Newman as gal pal Doreen and Sally Oliver as Barry's posh totty Roselle.
Tough task cramming generations of a novel into a stage play and writer Patrick Prior is too in awe of the source. Doesn't help that he is inclined to recap, state the bleedin' obvious and dash for the doof doof when the going gets tough.
(In fact, the title says Two Women, but the secondary tale about Mattie, a middle class nutcracker, is a needless subplot.)
Still, this is a gutsy attempt by director Ryan Romain to strike a common chord with the audience, in values and vernacular, and there's no doubting the marketable provenance of the original.
More protofeminists than singles night at Harriet's, more f-words than a Gordon Ramsay pluckfest, this scratching, fizzing hellcat of an evening will sell out quicker than a Cockney sizing up drums in Brentwood.
Up the 'ammers.
- Until March 20. For ticket details go to stratfordeast.com
