A play can be thoroughly enjoyable even if its plot and the way its characters behave don’t quite stack up. That’s the case with Chris Thompson’s often terrifically entertaining drama about nature, nurture and the deal-breakers and responsibilities of parenthood and marriage.
It begins in winning mode as we meet fortysomething solicitor Daniel (James Lance) and his much younger husband, party planner Oliver (Joshua Silver). They are preparing for parenthood and holding an intimate baby shower with an old friend, the heavily pregnant Priya (Chetna Pandya).
Priya, the mother of a teenage son, who has previously borne a child for her sister, has generously agreed to be the surrogate. Daniel and Priya have had a long friendship, and she introduced the happily married pair to each other (their campy first wedding dance is gloriously recalled). So what could possibly go wrong?
In short, the arrival of Daniel’s mother, Lydia (Joanna Bacon). Oliver’s antipathy towards a woman whose parenting skills leave a lot to be desired turns to immaturely expressed hostility with a rubber duck. Violence erupts, with shattering consequences.
Of Kith and Kin knows how to surprise: the second, gripping scene shows the fallout from the disastrous baby shower. There’s such a lot going on that it can feel like three plays – one about the legacies of abuse, another about the lingering impact of gay history on one particular relationship between an older and a younger man, and a third about parental rights – folded into one juicy, overstuffed wrap.
Plotting demands the characters behave in ways that don’t add up, so while there’s great drama, credulity is strained. Priya’s decisions are underexplored, and I kept wondering whether lawyer Daniel would behave as he does in court, even under emotional duress. I was vastly entertained by Donna Berlin’s wry judge but never believed in her.
The play, like its characters, is flawed, but it’s watchable and a fine cast – Lance as the damaged Daniel is outstanding – ensure that it packs an emotional punch. There’s something fascinating, too, about an evening that concludes with some of the audience rooting to see the baby in one pair of arms and others appalled that he ever might snuggle there.
- At Bush theatre, London, until 25 November. Box office: 020-8743 5050.
