Leopards is a new play produced at the Rose in Kingston under the artistic directorship of Christopher Haydon whom I remember for two outstanding productions, Grounded at The Gate and Twelve Angry Men at the Garrick. This play is his first original production at the Rose.
Alys Metcalf’s play Leopards is a thriller which will have you guessing at endings which I am forbidden to disclose under the critics’ code about spoilers. All I can say is that my guesses were wrong!
A celebrity, charity chief executive, Ben Harris (Martin Marquez) has agreed to meet a girl, half his age, Niala (Saffron Coomber) in a hotel bar. It is raining and Gareth Fry’s sound of thunder and Colin Grenfell’s lightning convey the rise of the storm using designer Lily Arnold’s abstract vertical hanging blue strip lights.
Niala has been sending him copies of her cv and has emailed that she would like his advice on her future career. Crucially she had attached a photograph to her cv breaking a code of not revealing age, or gender or appearance to those selecting people for jobs. And he has agreed to meet her on a Friday night outside normal working hours.
Her behaviour is sexy and provocative as she flirts unashamedly with this handsome and powerful man. While she may or may not have fooled the men in the audience, for me, she was definitely up to something but it might be the reverse situation of the casting couch in her trading sex for advancement. A little later in the play she refers to this concept, “This isn’t me trying to sleep my way to the top. I’m not convinced that even works, or wouldn’t there actually be more women at the top?” Nice observation!