Theatre week

A double dose of theatre this week.

Monday I went to see an Arthur Miller play - Broken Mirror. Any play starring Antony Sher is probably going to get a "powerful" billing, and this was no exception. Set in 1930s New York Jewish community, its about a woman who becomes paralyzed for psychosomatic reasons. But what it is really about is a lack of honesty, people not feeling able to say what they feel, to ask for help, and guessing what others think rather than finding out. But for all the fine acting, it just felt slightly unreal, not helped by the overdramatic denouement where the wife recovers the ability to walk only at the point her husband dies of a heart attack.

More satisfying if unheralded was My City at the Almeida. A genuinely original play based on two young adults who come across their now retired primary school headmistress (played by Liz Ullman who I hadn't heard of for years, I think because she had a successful career in the States). The headmistress is a wonderfully enigmatic figure, a story teller at school and still one now in retirement, but who chooses to wander the streets of London at night. Also a play where you could never guess what was coming next, and utterly engaging throughout, which one can't say for everything one sees at the theatre. Thoroughly recommended.