Review: 'Summer and Smoke'

by Daniel Hill

Summer and Smoke is a rarely seen play written by Tennessee Williams. This production by the Almeida was fairly simple with nine pianos set in a semi circle around the back of the stage and the iconic Almeida wall creating a boundary around the stage. Rebecca Frecknall returns to this piece as Director for the second time as she makes her debut at the Almeida. Patsy Ferran’s subtle performance of Alma alongside Matthew Needham as John is supported by an ensemble cast. I felt that the production team failed to create a brilliant piece of theatre and leaves the Almeida is this momentary sink of standard after a superb run of west end transfers.

The direction is overly powerful or effective, but some moments are conveyed well by the cast. The multi-rolling can often come across as quite lacking of definition between characters which often made it slightly confusing for the audience to grasp who was who. Although a subtle change of costume or prop was often used, I believe that it would have been more successful with slight voice or movement differentiation. The use of arc of pianos which provided a backdrop to the stage were used very effectively and the variation in which these were played often added necessary tension to the piece which was always particularly effective.

Ferran’s performance of the main role was both subtle and effective; it stole the show by far. I felt that she was able to create the character in a very emotional way and is one of the best young actresses I have seen on the stage recently. Needham seems to act in a very relaxed way which often seems to tone down his character. Although this worked in some moments, it sometimes felt like he was holding back from his full character which sometimes led to a lowered atmosphere. I believe he can be a very effective actor, yet there was something missing to do with variety within the character.

The ensemble, as previously mentioned, were involved with a range of multi-rolling due to the number of characters within the play. I felt some of these were somewhat feeble which I think held the performance, led by the two leads, slightly back. The choices on differentiating props or costume opposed to actual character meant it was ineffective and indecisive.

This performance, from my perspective, seemed to be holding back slight and could have moved from a good piece to a brilliant one with only a minute changes, which were overall importantly missing. It is far from the worst thing I have seen on stage, yet not quite near the top either. I feel that it is a shame to say, but the Almeida have not quite reached their previous level of success with this production; hopefully this will change in the near future.