*/
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Clean Break
Running until 30 November 2019 at the Donmar Theatre
‘Blank’ is 100 largely unconnected scenes written by Alice Birch to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Clean Break, the estimable theatre company which for 40 years has ‘used theatre to transform the lives of women with experience in the criminal justice system’, including of course being in prison. The production team at the Donmar chose 30 of these scenes to enact and were free to decide the playing order. It makes for an absorbing evening (two hours without interval) but these are really snapshots, usually unconnected to a previous or subsequent scene. The cast play a number of parts. It is not a conventional play with plot or character development.
Director Maria Aberg and a brilliant cast of 14 women and two young girls rise to the occasion. Over and over again, they plunge straight in, with intense and sometimes harrowing emotion. They are assisted by a clever and highly adaptable double height set designed by Rosie Elnile.
What is powerfully brought home is a litany of what some women endure. Mental illness, infanticide, domestic violence, drug addiction and appalling parenting are all there. A drug addict tries to burgle her parents’ home and is later seen soliciting for prostitution and later still having to be fatally subdued in gaol. A vulnerable woman naively falls in love with a violent man; in due course she tries but fails to get into a refuge.
The longest sequence is ‘Dinner Party’ which involves the entire cast. They are non-victims including a police officer who arrests violent men and a lawyer who sometimes defends them. They feast on dishes like fattoush salad presumably from the Ottolenghi cook book. Cases of wine arrive (by bicycle) as does cocaine. It is 40 minutes of superb ensemble playing but it is a long time before we get to the debating point. A guest becomes more and more upset at what she sees. Finally she announces that she has just gone upstairs and urinated on her hostess’s sleeping child. She hasn’t but she has her reasons: ‘My mother did piss on me and I am fully capable of controlling my bladder. I am able not to repeat her patterns of behaviour. I am able to choose not to hurt others despite the fact that my mother effectively taught me to.’ She accuses the others of saying the right thing and being aware of what is awful, ‘in order to buy yourself the time and the life to do absolutely nothing of worth or meaning or good in the world’.
It should be a moment of moral conflict but somehow that does not quite happen. Eventually the scene terminates with what might be a child actor’s favourite role. One of the little girls comes out with a baseball bat, stands on a chair and smashes up the dinner table, fattoush salad and all.
To book and for more information please visit: https://bit.ly/2NYTtG4
The Donmar is supported by their Principal Sponsor, Barclays
Reviewer David Wurtzel
‘Blank’ is 100 largely unconnected scenes written by Alice Birch to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Clean Break, the estimable theatre company which for 40 years has ‘used theatre to transform the lives of women with experience in the criminal justice system’, including of course being in prison. The production team at the Donmar chose 30 of these scenes to enact and were free to decide the playing order. It makes for an absorbing evening (two hours without interval) but these are really snapshots, usually unconnected to a previous or subsequent scene. The cast play a number of parts. It is not a conventional play with plot or character development.
Director Maria Aberg and a brilliant cast of 14 women and two young girls rise to the occasion. Over and over again, they plunge straight in, with intense and sometimes harrowing emotion. They are assisted by a clever and highly adaptable double height set designed by Rosie Elnile.
What is powerfully brought home is a litany of what some women endure. Mental illness, infanticide, domestic violence, drug addiction and appalling parenting are all there. A drug addict tries to burgle her parents’ home and is later seen soliciting for prostitution and later still having to be fatally subdued in gaol. A vulnerable woman naively falls in love with a violent man; in due course she tries but fails to get into a refuge.
The longest sequence is ‘Dinner Party’ which involves the entire cast. They are non-victims including a police officer who arrests violent men and a lawyer who sometimes defends them. They feast on dishes like fattoush salad presumably from the Ottolenghi cook book. Cases of wine arrive (by bicycle) as does cocaine. It is 40 minutes of superb ensemble playing but it is a long time before we get to the debating point. A guest becomes more and more upset at what she sees. Finally she announces that she has just gone upstairs and urinated on her hostess’s sleeping child. She hasn’t but she has her reasons: ‘My mother did piss on me and I am fully capable of controlling my bladder. I am able not to repeat her patterns of behaviour. I am able to choose not to hurt others despite the fact that my mother effectively taught me to.’ She accuses the others of saying the right thing and being aware of what is awful, ‘in order to buy yourself the time and the life to do absolutely nothing of worth or meaning or good in the world’.
It should be a moment of moral conflict but somehow that does not quite happen. Eventually the scene terminates with what might be a child actor’s favourite role. One of the little girls comes out with a baseball bat, stands on a chair and smashes up the dinner table, fattoush salad and all.
To book and for more information please visit: https://bit.ly/2NYTtG4
The Donmar is supported by their Principal Sponsor, Barclays
Reviewer David Wurtzel
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Clean Break
Running until 30 November 2019 at the Donmar Theatre
Sam Townend KC explains the Bar Council’s efforts towards ensuring a bright future for the profession
Giovanni D’Avola explores the issue of over-citation of unreported cases and the ‘added value’ elements of a law report
Louise Crush explores the key points and opportunities for tax efficiency
Westgate Wealth Management Ltd is a Partner Practice of FTSE 100 company St. James’s Place – one of the top UK Wealth Management firms. We offer a holistic service of distinct quality, integrity, and excellence with the aim to build a professional and valuable relationship with our clients, helping to provide them with security now, prosperity in the future and the highest standard of service in all of our dealings.
Is now the time to review your financial position, having reached a career milestone? asks Louise Crush
If you were to host a dinner party with 10 guests, and you asked them to explain what financial planning is and how it differs to financial advice, you’d receive 10 different answers. The variety of answers highlights the ongoing need to clarify and promote the value of financial planning.
Most of us like to think we would risk our career in order to meet our ethical obligations, so why have so many lawyers failed to hold the line? asks Flora Page
If your current practice environment is bringing you down, seek a new one. However daunting the change, it will be worth it, says Anon Barrister
Creating advocacy opportunities for juniors is now the expectation but not always easy to put into effect. Tom Mitcheson KC distils developing best practice from the Patents Court initiative already bearing fruit
Sam Townend KC explains the Bar Council’s efforts towards ensuring a bright future for the profession
National courts are now running the bulk of the world’s war crimes cases and corporate prosecutions are part of this growing trend, reports Chris Stephen