Brief Encounters in the NHS
“He’s alienated half the doctors in the country”
Julian
Lucy Kirkwood’s latest play is set just after the Second World War where a woman doctor is looking forward to the set up of the National Health Service with free health care for all. Her husband, on the other hand, who is also a doctor is not enthusiastic about losing some of his income.
The staging of the play is firmly in the 1940s with lounge music from that era and fashion, women with coats worn with matching felt hats awaiting the advent of Christian Dior’s New Look. We even stray into Brief Encounter territory with Dr Iris Elcock (Keeley Hawes) gaslighted by her ghastly husband Julian Elcock (Tom Goodman-Hill), and meeting an attractive stranger George Blythe (Jack Davenport) on a train.
Cameras are wheeled in and around for the large cinema screen at the rear of the stage to show close-ups of the actors and making Michael Longhurst’s direction decidedly filmic.
There is a political agenda as Iris is involved with the Labour Party and full time agent Helen Mackeson (Siobhan Redmond). Iris is a Labour councillor for the local authority and is due to go to a NHS rally which will see Nye Bevan (now the subject of a play at the National Theatre) launch his plan.
It seems that many of the doctors are opposed to the NHS and Iris’s husband Julian lists off his reasons including one which might ring true today: that there will never be enough money.
The romantic aspect of the story has a major flaw, in as far as both participants are married, both unhappily. I was thinking that Brief Encounter meets Jane Eyre when Jack Davenport’s character reveals the details of his marriage to a movie actress. But there is some glamour when George buys Iris a New Look outfit of fitted white jacket and full black skirt.
I felt the story line was weak as the history of the NHS pioneers does not sit well alongside the romance of a woman in the 1940s when divorce was very difficult to obtain unless both parties consented.
There are amazing performances here from Keeley Hawes and Jack Davenport but we do wonder why Iris Elcock married the pompous Julian in the first place. Keeley Hawes has all the diffidence of a confident woman in her chosen career of medicine, but nervous of following her desires. This is the first time I have seen her onstage in almost three decades of reviewing. Jack Davenport is heartthrob material and has done more stage work in London and New York.
The play is well acted and well cast with Siobhan Redmond doubling in many parts of mature women, patients and friends. However its tone is uneven and a consistent message is hard to find.
Production Notes
The Human Body
Written by Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Michael Longhurst
Cast
Starring:
Jack Davenport
Keeley Hawes
Pearl Mackie
Siobhán Redmond
Tom Goodman-Hill
Audrey Kattan
Flora Jacoby Richardson
Creatives
Director: Michael Longhurst
Designer: Fly Davies
Lighting Designer: Joshua Pharo
Sound Designer: Ben and Max Ringham
Intimacy director: Sara Green
Video/Projection Designer:
Nathan Amaze, Joe Ransom
Fight Director: Bret Yount
Information
Running Time: Two hours 45 minutes with an interval
Booking to 13th April 2024
Theatre:
Donmar Warehouse
Earlham Street
Covent Garden
London WC2H 9LX
Tube : Covent Garden
Website: donmarwarehouse.com
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Donmar Warehouse
on 28th February 2024