It is not often you hear a roar of applause at half-time in the theatre. Linda (Spanish for pretty) got exactly that. Some of it was for the knockout Noma Dumezweni who had stepped into the lead role when Kim Cattrall bowed out of the part two weeks before opening night. For some of the time she had a script in hand. Sometimes she made it look as if she was consulting a recipe book; sometimes there was no disguise. Never did it matter a jot. For at all times she seems not to be acting a part, but rather talking us through the many things going on in the life of a 55-year-old woman who suddenly feels invisible both at work and at home.
The applause was for writer Penelope Skinner too, and Michael Longhurst as director. This is a rousing play. It is sketchily characterised and over-plotted, but fierce and vibrant. There is a lovely performance from Karla Crome – sharp-eyed and flat-voiced – as a young woman, once cyberbullied, who wears a skunk outfit so that no one looks at her face. Es Devlin supplies another impressive design: white, double-decked, splashed with white slogans, stacked with tubes of lotions and sleek kitchen equipment, it revolves slowly, like a 30s liner.
Linda argues for the visibility of the older woman more forcefully in words than in flesh. Of the eight characters on stage, only one is a woman is over 30. The Court will put that right when they stage the newest Caryl Churchill play, Escaped Alone, next year. It stars a quartet of women over 50: Linda Bassett, Kika Markham, Deborah Findlay and June Watson. Four of our best actresses becoming more visible.
