Theatre review: Makeshifts and Realities

The Finborough's latest rediscovery season next takes us back around 110 years, for a triple bill of short, proto-feminist plays that take a steely, pragmatic look at young women of a certain comfortable, upper-middle class, and how their seemingly carefree lives are left up in the air when the money runs out - and they've not been allowed a Plan B. The first two come from writer Gertrude Robins, and run together so smoothly you'd be forgiven for thinking - as some of the audience did at the interval - that they were a single piece. They do tell a single story: In 1908's Makeshifts, sisters Caroline (Philippa Quinn) and Dolly (Poppy Allen-Quarmby) are caring for an invalid mother and have had to take in a lodger to help pay the rent. Both talk a big game of being independent: Teaching assistant Dolly says she doesn't think she'll ever get married, while Caroline is tentatively wondering if the suffragettes might have a point.

But both know their lives' realities, and when Joe Eyre's flirtatious Mr Smythe - who's been assembled out of a "build your own oily spiv" kit - visits, both women get their hopes up that he'll propose.

But whether through malice or indifference Smythe has a crueller blow in store than either is expecting; this vignette was evidently successful enough to get a sequel, and in Realities we meet Caroline in the same drawing room two years later, when she’s settled for marriage to the dull lodger (Akshay Sharan.) A visit from a haughty acquaintance (Beth Lilly) makes her confront the choices she’s had to make. Robins gives her story what’s, tonally, a happy ending, with Caroline finding a new appreciation for the life she’s now got, but the overall sweep of the story is one of women making unwanted compromises.

This opening double bill still only comes in at an hour so the theatre has beefed up the evening’s running time a bit with a third play after the interval. H. M. Harwood’s Honour Thy Father from 1912 raises similar points in a more direct way, and got itself banned until 1934 as a result: Edward (Andrew Hawkins) has incurred gambling debts so bad he’s had to flee London with his wife Jane (Suzan Sylvester) and youngest daughter. They’ve tried to go somewhere so boring he couldn’t possibly get into trouble and so, because some stereotypes have been around forever, they now live in Belgium. Despite technically not being allowed near the money though, Edward’s still managed to gamble away their rent.

They’re financially supported by eldest daughter Claire (Allen-Quarmby,) whose latest visit to Bruges comes with a revelation about how exactly she’s been making enough money to keep them, and her father is forced to confront what the authority he thinks he has over his family actually amounts to. Given they’ve both got the same director in Melissa Dunne, and largely the same cast, it’s interesting that the performances feel a bit awkward and stilted in the opening pieces, and a lot more natural after the interval. Maybe there’s something the actors find a bit more modern and comfortable about Harwood’s dialogue or maybe, despite both being dialogue-heavy pieces, it’s because his story is a bit more confrontational and can build up energy.

Where both stories most suffer is in having plots so simple that even the fairly brief blurbs on the website have essentially acted as spoilers for every twist. After the initial awkwardness it settles into an entertaining enough evening though, and Honour Thy Father even offers some moments of dark humour. And both plays, particularly the latter, come with a secondary theme that suggests it’s not just the patriarchy that’s toxic in these situations: Class is as big an offender, and keeping up appearances can condemn women to a life as little more than decoration and housekeeping, with no life skills to fall back on when things get rough, and no support from the people who put them in that position.

Makeshifts and Realities: Makeshifts by Gertrude Robins, Realities by Gertrude Robins, and Honour Thy Father by H. M. Harwood, is booking until the 2nd of September at the Finborough Theatre.

Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Carla Joy Evans