Theatre review: Miss Myrtle's Garden

Next Bush Artistic Director Taio Lawson directs the first in his predecessor's final season of shows, and Miss Myrtle's Garden suggests we might get a continuation of some of the themes Lynette Linton's established: Not just stories that foreground queer people of colour, but also ones that take quite a literal approach to the theatre's horticultural name. Danny James King's play takes place entirely in the titular South East London garden, the pride and joy of Jamaican-born Myrtle (Diveen Henry,) but one she can't look after on her own as she gets older, with husband Melrose (Mensah Bediako) and old friend Eddie (Gary Lilburn) tending to the plants under her watchful, and generally judgmental eye. When her grandson Rudy (Michael Ahomka-Lindsay) visits and mentions that his rent is being raised again, she invites him to move into the top floor she no longer uses.

Rudy moves in along with his boyfriend Jason (Elander Moore,) but he's convinced his grandmother would disapprove of his sexuality - the only thing that would upset her more would be finding out that he's Nigerian, so as well as pretending just to be friends, Jason also has to pretend to be from Trinidad.

Myrtle is a relentless troll who enjoys winding people up by being contradictory and irascible, so it takes a while for Rudy to realise that some of her behaviour is more unpredictable than usual. She's been developing dementia for some time, and along with forgetting the people who actually are there, she (and the audience) are seeing others who aren't: Melrose died a few years earlier.

King's story unfolds increasingly devastating revelations, but Lawson's production plays out its moods almost in the opposite order: It starts out portentous, and Khadija Raza's circular set, with a flying saucer-like feature looming ominously over it, is flooded in eerie lights and blackouts from lighting designer Joshua Gadsby, and jarring noises from sound designer Dan Balfour. But as the situations and relationships get more stressful, the production becomes calmer.

It reflects the play's theme of families keeping truths from each other they think they can't handle, all the dramatic effects coming while the secrets are being kept, and toned down once they're revealed. It also gives a distinctive flavour to a play that slides from simple, naturalistic scenes to ones that are just happening inside Myrtle's head as the past comes up to revisit her, while fitting in with the multiple moods the play juggles: While it becomes increasingly melancholy, the funny dialogue doesn't fade away.

A lot of the way the show avoids getting too mired in sadness comes from a great cast - over the two hours every pairing of characters (with the exception of Melrose for obvious reasons) gets to develop a distinct relationship that we can follow and buy into. King does frustratingly end the play ignoring a couple of major plot points he's set up regarding the family's finances, so it's not without issues (and the fact that the building's multiple refurbs have never stretched to adequate aircon is a problem once more) but on the whole this is a sad but warm and inviting evening (and props to Raza for casually putting Jason in a Protect The Dolls T-shirt for one scene, I do like it when theatre can make an understated but forceful point like that.)

Miss Myrtle's Garden by Danny James King is booking until the 12th of July at the Bush Theatre's Holloway Space.

Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Camilla Greenwell.