Three stars
The intimate Donmar stage is the perfect setting for this kitchen sink drama from Arnold Wesker, the middle part of his trilogy of ground-breaking post-war plays, and the most often performed.
Beatie (Jessica Raine from Call the Midwife) is on a visit home to her farming family deep in the rural Norfolk of the 50’s. She’s been living in London for the past few years, and going out with an intellectual socialist, Ronnie, for three.
When she returns to the bosom of her family, she falls back into the mundane rhythms of their life while regaling them with endless ‘what Ronnie said’ quotes, alienating them from him even before his planned visit in a few days time.
Parsimonious Dad (Ian Gelder) wanders about Hildegard Bechtler‘s dowdy set full of drying smalls, turning the lamps out, forbidding Beatie from baking a cake for her sister because of the cost of the electricity, and moaning resignedly about his aches and pains. Mum (Linda Bassett) goes about her chores with a quiet concentration, flowery overalls covering wrinkled stockings, keeping time by the passing of the bus every hour.
Beatie bounds around them, a ball of energy, full less of herself than of Ronnie and his marvellous way of looking at the world, bemusing her parents who seem to let it wash over them whereas in reality the implied criticism of their world cuts deep.
Director James MacDonald lets this production simmer, with silences as deep as an echoey well. Running at nearly three hours with two mini intervals, Roots is clearly meant to lure us into this rural world where a bath takes a couple of days of planning (“When I’m married I’ll have a bath every day!” says Beatie, dreaming the dream), but instead simply bores.
I found myself curiously unengaged with the characters and looking at my watch (I counted at least a dozen empty seats in the tiny Donmar after the second interval). Usually, spending an evening with the minutiae of other people’s lives as detailed as this draws you in and makes you care about what happens to them, but here, despite the undoubted quality of the acting, I just couldn’t have cared less.
The muted applause seemed to sum the production up: worthy, interesting up to a point, but not an evening to remember.
WHAT: Roots by Arnold Wesker
WHERE: Donmar, Seven Dials, London
WHEN: Until 30 November
RUNNING TIME: nearly three hours (phew!)
TICKETS: £7.50 – £35
MORE INFO: http://www.donmarwarehouse.com/whats-on/donmar-warehouse/2013/roots
WOULD I SEE IT AGAIN: No. Just no.
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