Review: Some lovely lighter moments but something didn't gel - Reared, Theatre503
11/04/2018
While there are some excellent individual scenes as a whole Reared just doesn't quite gel. I found myself wanting it to delve further.
There is a moment in Reared which reminded me of Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman when Aunt Maggie Far Away is having one of her lucid moments and telling the children stories.
Paddy Glynn and Danielle Phillips in Reared, Theatre503. Photo: The Other Richard
In John Fitzpatrick's new play, it's the same scenario; Nora (Paddy Glyn) is telling her granddaughter Caitlin (Danielle Phillips) an old family story about the Irish potato famine but on finishing it she slips back into a confusion of memories.
It's a touching moment in a play about mounting family tensions as Caitlin's mother, Eileen (Shelley Atkinson), tries to persuade her husband Stuart (Daniel Crossley) that there is more to his mother's memory loss than simple old age.
There is additional family drama as 15-year-old Caitlin is pregnant and doesn't want her parents to know who the father is. Caitlin's hapless friend Colin (Rohan Nedd) is the source of much humour as he tries to be supportive.
These lighter moments work really well but there aren't enough to make Reared a full-blown comedy but then neither does the play properly explore either dementia or teenage pregnancy/underage sex and, as a result, it lacks punch.
Daniel Crossley and Shelley Atkinson in Reared Theatre503. Photo: The Other Richard
Eileen wants Stuart to finish the granny flat at the bottom of the garden so Nora can move in, then she wants her in a home, then there is an awkward and uncomfortable scene when it is implied that there has been some sort of accident.
Her and Stuart are talking when they hear someone fall and their first instinct isn't to rush to find out what has happened but to think: 'Problem solved'.
It made for an odd, out of context moment.
Then there is Caitlin's pregnancy. There is one scene when it is properly discussed but then it seems to disappear into the background, Eileen seemingly becoming more rattled by her daughter's choice of career.
While there are some excellent individual scenes as a whole Reared just doesn't quite gel. I found myself wanting it to delve further.
As a result, it isn't quite entertaining enough to be a 'romp' but neither does it appear to say anything new or fresh or provocative.
I'm giving it 3 stars, it's 95 minutes without an interval and is at Theatre503 in Battersea until April 28.