THE INHERITANCE ☆☆☆☆☆
NOEL COWARD THEATRE, LONDON
OCTOBER 2018
The Inheritance is a vast piece of work; two plays covering several decades; seven hours total playing time and a cast of over twenty people. This allows playwright Matthew Lopez to create an incredibly broad canvas on which he can explore a dizzying array of issues, both personal and political.
At curtain up we are greeted with ten men, youthful and languorous (each one good looking but cumulatively it’s like being thrown onto the set for a film by BelAmi!) They are being tutored it would seem by E.M Forster (“We must learn from the past”), which is obviously quite a jump in time and it goes on to serve as a dramatic device throughout the rest of the two plays.
Act 1 introduces us to all the characters, along with the main protagonists Eric (a lawyer) and Toby (a writer). We follow the ups and downs , the delights and the difficulties of being young, ambitious and gay in modern New York. The play is deliriously funny and includes discussions around gay identity, the co-opting of black culture, the nature of LGBT community, HIV, the AIDS crisis of the 80’s, sex and relationships and memorably a scene which recounts the night of Trump’s electoral victory.
The first play ends with an extraordinary scene in which everything we have just shared now serves the emotional impact of this moment. There is not just discreet tears and sniffles in the audience but full on sobbing from young and old, male and female, throughout the audience. There is no curtain call for this matinee and quite honestly it’s for the best – we are far too wrung through.
The second play picks up precisely where the last one left off and we are introduced to historical characters whose kindness and compassion reach down through the decades and we see a link and a mirror in the actions of the present day characters. The humour is more muted in this play – it’s altogether more ethereal in atmosphere – helped by Vanessa Redgrave giving a restrained but powerful performance as Margaret.
The ensemble cast is truly without fault or weak link, but quite stellar is Andrew Burnap as Toby Darling the selfish boyfriend, and Samuel H. Levine who masterfully plays a two characters (occasionally at the same time!). Its Kyle Stoller (as Eric) who brings an energy and depth of characterisation that sustains the whole enterprise and although all the main characters are shown flaws and all, Eric’s moral compass is true and serves as the emotional heart of the piece.
Bob Crowley (design) brings his awesome creativity to bear providing a beautiful, simple elevating platform around which the entire cast are often seated offering props, costumes, reactions and comments as required. As the play unfolds, the only other scenic elements are a gorgeous cherry tree and then a house which are both crucial to the plot and appear even more symbolic and beautiful by their solitude.
The writing is intense, funny but also in turn angry and poignant. If there were to be one criticism is that covering quite so many issues it can be a little overwhelming and with each new scene you almost ask “OMG what’s happened now!?” It does say something however (probably something positive) that a play which focuses on the rich and varied lives of gay men, a play in which issues around ChemSex orgies, drug addiction, suicide, simulated but graphic sex, male nudity (sensitively handled), male prostitution, gay saunas, can flourish in the West End but also doubtless win awards. Is everyone post gay now? (At the time of writing, tickets are being sold at a 70% discount so maybe they are not quite that ready!)
The Inheritance, directed by Stephen Daldry, is a towering achievement, a colossal feat of playwriting that will endure for many years to come. Most of all it will reflect how far the LGBT community has come in 2018 the hopes and dreams of a (albeit narrow) group of gays and the touching, personal journey of a young man guided by his heart.
https://www.inheritanceplay.com/
REVIEW: JONNY WARD
