A monumental set rises from stage floor to lighting rig. It looks like a cross between the seating area of a gladiatorial arena and a giant wedding cake. On its various levels, Patricia (Rebecca Lacey) and her daughter, Sofia (Lizzy Watts), confront one another. In austerity-crippled, unemployment-hobbled Spain, Sofia has been taken on as PA to a senior banker. Hundreds applied for the job. Many had outstanding CVs. Although Sofia is newly graduated, has no experience and describes herself as “average”, she is furious when banker-averse Patricia questions the employer’s motive. Sofia believes that her boss hired her because he “sees potential” (subsequently realised as a dogged devotion to him and his ideals).
The following nine scenes repeat this pattern of on-stage quarrelling about off-stage events, both personal and political. A shocking revelation about a death is slotted into the same mould, along with the statement that it “gave the people what they wanted – blood”. The information, its delivery and reception are so unconvincingly incongruous that, on press night, the audience jolted into laughter. For all the professionalism of the production and humanity of the performances, Alexandra Wood’s new play feels unfinished: a froth of potentially interesting story ideas struggling for dramatic form.
