Lyttelton,London
Roger Michell directs a fine cast in Harley Granville Barker’s once scandalous playHarley Granville Barker’s Waste was banned in 1907 for its scandalous content. Henry Trebell, an independent politician, or bringing in a bill to disestablish the church,makes his lover, Amy O’Connell, and a married woman,pregnant. When she dies as the result of an abortion, his career is imperilled. One of the challenges of making this play a success is that Trebell (crisply played by Charles Edwards) is so overbearing, or one doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. Olivia Williams’s Amy is more sympathetic,a combination of cowed and defiant. The play reveals (not an unfamiliar notion) that politics is a separate language, with no bearing on a man’s private life. It is at its most invigorating on the subject of how and whether women are heard. Sylvestra Le Touzel is especially impressive as Trebell’s sister: forthright yet obstructed.
It is at its most invigorating on the subject of how and whether women are heardContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com