In Gerhart Hauptmann's 1891 play, fresh air is already blowing in from the 20th century. The liberation of women, relations between the sexes, the rise of science and the death of God all figure in a drama that is as fascinating as anything written by Chekhov and Ibsen in its depiction of people struggling to find how to live in a world on the brink of momentous change. This rare revival could hardly be timelier.
It is not long before you start speculating on who will be the survivors in the brave new world and who will find the struggle unbearable and take another way out. Will it be the moody, highly-strung John Vockerat, whose rejection of God and espousal of Hegel and Darwin have made him neither happier nor richer? Or perhaps his young wife, Kitty, suffering from what we would now recognise as post-natal depression? Or Anna Mahr, free-thinker and new woman, who blows in to the Vockerats' lives like a gale, striking up a friendship with John that not only threatens the family unit but makes everyone more aware of their isolation? This is a roller-coaster ride that shudders to a halt with the devastating realisation that we are all alone, even when we are most loved.
This minor masterpiece demands a much sharper translation than it is given here, and Eddie Marsan's production is unevenly cast. But it makes splendid use of an intimate, almost claustrophobic space, and Ruth Platt, who plays Anna, has such a loose-limbed allure that you long to see her play her character's close cousin, Ibsen's Rebecca West.
Until November 20. Box office: 0207-261 9876
***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable
** Mediocre * Terrible
