Who knows what lies beneath the seemingly respectable, very ordinary, and rather bland lives of those who occupy suburban London? Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song, at Greenwich Theatre, hovers over that surface and, without probing too deeply, finds life to be more uneasy, uncomfortable, and unsatisfactory than it seems.
A thought-provoking and reflective production tinged with an element of mystery.
Dale (Jeremy Edwards) grudgingly runs his own car-wash business, employing teams of immigrants. He lives in some awe of his neighbour, Ned (Naveed Khan), a demolition contractor—a job that, to Dale, seems full of thrills and excitement, and from which Ned derives real pleasure. Together, they often watch recordings of the detonations Ned has carried out. Ned wants to lose weight, and in some highly entertaining and comical scenes, Dale instructs him in basic exercises while Ned recounts various possessions that have mysteriously vanished from his house—a recurring theme, as the list continues to grow. Meanwhile, his wife—ironically named Joy (Kellie Shirley)—languishes next door with little to do but reflect on eleven years in an unrewarding marriage and contemplate making sexual advances towards Dale.
Rather than finding contentment in their lives, each ultimately longs to escape from what they have. The dialogue is broodingly comic, and each member of the talented cast successfully conveys their character’s frustrations, fears, and shortcomings. Even more impressive is the way they rise to Butterworth’s challenge of portraying the tragic human conditions that lie beneath the words. The script goes only so far, but the wheels turning inside their heads say so much more—and the cast makes this palpable.
Director James Haddrell describes the play as a "theatrical comedy of manners wrapped up in an unsettling satire of suburban life," and he has carefully worked to enhance the text with supporting business that never detracts from it. Design by Emily Bestow and lighting by Henry Slater achieve the same effect in equal measure, with the outlines of houses providing a façade for projections.
Together, they have created a thought-provoking and reflective production tinged with an element of mystery.
