Type and hit ENTER

Commonly used tags...

Brighton Festival Brighton Fringe Brighton Pride British Sea Power Cinecity Lewes Psychedelic Festival Locally Sourced Lost & Found Love Supreme Festival Nick Cave Poets Vs MCs Politics Rag'n'Bone Man Record Store Day Save Our Venues Six Of The Best Source Virgins Streets Of Brighton Street Source Tattoos The Great Escape Tru Thoughts Unsung Heroes
  • Home
  • News
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Food
  • Tickets
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Advertise
  • Home
  • News
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Food
  • Tickets
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Advertise
The Father by Florian Zeller,
Reviews

The Father Review

Mar 19, 2019
-
Posted by Mike Aiken

Feeling forgetful? Forgotten to take your pills?

That’s where it starts for Andre. Then he finds strange people living in his flat. They keep stealing his watch.

Florian Zeller’s play, first performed to a UK audience in 2014, begins with feint shadows of Andre’s failing memory and ends with raging tears of dementia. In between, there is plenty of humour. Andre is astute enough to point out how forgetful his family are getting. He’s far from being a victim.

For the audience, it’s uncanny how his flat seems to look slightly different at every turn. Were there three pictures on the wall, or was it just two? And which woman is his daughter? We follow Andre’s confusion into the labyrinth.

The script crafts each point of this descent with precision and compassion. Andre never stops being a human being. And he’s got plenty of tricks up his sleeve.

“When are you going to stop getting on our tits?” shouts his son-in-law with despair.

It needs careful direction to allow us to see the ambiguities and subtleties. Mary Allen, as director, has done great work in fostering this approach with the actors. The pause with words unsaid, the quizzical face, and the fear of what may come, are skilfully revealed by the strong cast. Michael Bulman, as Andre, holds centre stage. His trembling lip keeps us watching.

The set and lighting played a strong part in keeping us focussed although some of us found the blazing light which punctuated the scene changes overly harsh. But, overall, this was a well crafted local production. It took us inside the conundrum of what part memory and personality play in our emotions towards others.

New Venture Theatre, Friday 15th – 23rd March 2019
Photo by Strat Mastoris

Mar 19, 2019
Email
Mike Aiken
Mike lives in Brighton. This is a full time occupation. He's also a researcher, writer and activist. Any time left over he spends hanging around cafes and pubs listening to people on their phones. He loves theatre that pokes into difficult places. You won't find him on Facebook.
← PREVIOUS POST
Sports Team Review
NEXT POST →
Fontaines DC, Thurs 18th Apr
Mailing List

Recent Posts
  • Two Decades Of Funk Fire With Jalapeno Records
    Jan 18, 2021

    A new compilation celebrates 20 years of funk and soul from world-renowned Brighton label Jalapeno Records.

  • Hansel and Gretel? | Brighton Source
    Hansel and Gretel? Review
    Dec 18, 2020

    A postmodern pantomime with an unrelaible narrator. Outdoors with comedy, dance, camp actors, plenty of fun. On two levels: laughs for kids and jokes for adults

  • Artists Open Houses 2020
    Dec 5, 2020

    After cancelling the May edition, Artists Open Houses tell us what it's like to be back with a December festival that is open to visitors in person for eight days.

  • Cinecity 2020 previewed by Brighton Source
    Cinecity 2020
    Nov 17, 2020

    From the North Laine to Mongolia, Cinecity's lineup is typically eclectic and original this year - catch it before the city's key film festival ends.

  • Macbeth Review
    Nov 2, 2020

    Macbeth in Brighton. One-act play with Scottish Gaelic sounds by This Is My Theatre. Power, ambition, murder, blood. The woods are moving.

  • Lost & Found: Poison Girls
    Nov 2, 2020

    As part of our retrospective series on local bands we look back at the hugely influential and ever-challenging anarcho-punk collective Poison Girls.

  • The Rose Hill | Brighton Source
    Save Our Venues – The Rose Hill
    Oct 26, 2020

    We spoke to the team at the Rose Hill to find out how a series of new creative projects is helping this unique Brighton venue to cope with the current crisis.

  • Spillage! Review
    Oct 19, 2020

    This one-person, one-act play is giddy, funny and seriously entertaining. An odyssey through the madness of corporate pressure on our mental health.

Website developed in Brighton by Infobo
Copyright © Brighton Source 2009-2020
The Father Review - Brighton Source