Lyonesse

December 9, 2023. Harold Pinter Theatre.

I spent a while wondering why this play, why now.

The draw is clear. Kristen Scott Thomas + Lily James = box office gold. And with Ian Rickson at the helm too.

The theme is that of invisible women.

One who ran away from her life of patriarchal older husband, patriarchal controlling lover and the sense of not being truly seen.

And a younger woman with a text book, perfect life who doesn’t truly realise she isn’t being seen by her husband and her mother.

It is only when the two meet and share the matriarch’s story that she realises she wants freedom and kinship and to be respected, heard and seen.

But modern life isn’t like that is it. It doesn’t allow us to be truly free; we need to hanker after £400 haircuts and £3M houses in affluent parts of London. We need to consume to be happy.

On the face of it this should be a brilliant play. The performances are excellent. KST is having the time of her life as Elaine. And LJ shows some unexpectedly superb slapstick skills at one point.

The west end matinee audience applauded after every scene (weird) and the mostly female audience adoring of their stars.

The thing is I believe this could be a classic play with a powerful theme. I imagined LJ in her 50s playing Elaine. And Elaine is definitely a character you want to see more of living with freedom. I kept thinking of Mark Rylance performance as Rooster in Jerusalem and comparing it very warmly to this.

But overall the play lacks narrative clarity and wants to throw too much into the mix – me too, cancel culture, patriarchal hierarchy, … at one point my theatre buddy and I both whispered “enough already”. It was all getting a bit soupy.

3/5. Magnificent performances marred by narrative muddle.