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The Theatreguide.London Review
Earthquakes in London
Cottesloe Theatre Summer 2010
It is getting
quite hard to find fresh superlatives for productions at the National
this year. Perhaps the best measure of Nicholas Hytner's success has
been his ability to commission exceptional new writing in the smaller
Cottesloe Theatre.
Mike Bartlett has written much good work in the past but never on this
scale. Earthquakes in London is a Monsterist play featuring that genre's
trademarks of major themes and a big cast. It is good enough to compare
favourably with the best of Sir David Hare's issue-led plays, which
might well be its progenitors.
On this occasion, a strong script is immeasurably improved by the
direction of Headlong's Rupert Goold on the form that won him so many
awards for Enron.
The staging is quite incredible, with the audience not only surrounding
the actors on Miriam Buether's set but snaking between them on bar
stools. The cast disport themselves on an orange catwalk that might be
close to 100 metres in a straight line and also in two widescreen
picture windows, one at either end.
In addition to the drama, the evening is spiced up by song, dance and
all-encompassing video so that at times one could almost be out
clubbing.
For 3¼ hours, a massive cast explores the impending crisis that arguably
threatens the future of the planet, global warming.
It does so through the medium of three generations of a disjointed
family, seen at various periods from the innocent days of 1968 to the
dystopian disasters of 2525.
Bill Paterson plays father Robert, though Brian Ferguson takes over for
the early days. He is a highly intelligent and idealistic climatologist
whom, it is suggested, sold out to commercial temptation and as a
result, prevented the planet from opposing global warming when his
actions might still have made a difference.
His guilt manifests itself by his abandonment of three very different
daughters after their mother's premature death.
Lia Williams' Sarah is that ultra-modern invention, a LibDem minister in
a Tory Government. Somewhat ironically, she holds the environment
portfolio and faces similar temptations to her old Dad. She also
struggles to hold together her marriage to a dreary unemployed banker
played by Tom Goodman Hill.
The excellent Anna Madeley plays the most significant role, that of
pregnant middle sister Freya. She bears the next generation but also the
guilt of the world on her shoulders, making life impossible for husband
Steve, Geoffrey Streatfeild.
Jessica Raine's Jasmine is a wild child, still only nineteen and trying
to live life to the max, ignoring the consequences.
Their family traumas are all too believable and hold the attention but
gradually the issues that they face pale into insignificance, as they
and we are forced to confront what might be a doomsday scenario.
Rupert Goold's production, performed by a tremendous cast, pulls
together what might in other hands have seemed a rambling script,
allowing scenes to overlap and intelligently using humour to lighten
what could be a terrifying vision of our future.
Earthquakes in London might be a draft away from perfection but it is a
massively ambitious, thought-provoking piece of theatre. The possibility
to see something of this scale and quality justifies every penny of
subsidy that the National currently gets and should continue to receive
wherever other cuts might be made.
Philip Fisher
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