Sandy Pritchard-Gordon

Sandy Pritchard-Gordon
Theatre Blog

Monday 15 May 2017

Consent at The Dorfman









Nina Raine not only wrote Consent, now running at The National’s Dorfman Theatre, but her young baby also features, albeit for just a short while during the opening scene.  This inclusion adds to the believability of the couple at the heart of her new play.  The baby in question belongs to Kitty (Anna Maxwell Martin) and Edward (Ben Chaplin), who, on the surface appear to be in a happy ten-year-old marriage.  They have just moved into a new home and their great friends, Rachel (Priyanga Burford) and Jake (Adam James) have called round to “wet the house’s head”.  Edward and Jake are lawyers and constantly recall present and past cases in graphic detail, referring to their clients in the first person.  The playwright has obviously studied the way barristers chat to one another, as well as meticulously researching all aspects of the legal system.  Without it there wouldn’t be the ring of truth surrounding Consent.

Edward's latest case is defending a man convicted of raping Gayle, a young working class woman (Heather Craney), whilst Tim (Pip Carter) has the job of prosecuting him.  Gayle is having problems understanding why no one is defending her.  Even when Tim explains that she isn’t the one being tried, the legalities of the whole judicial system go completely over her head.  All she knows is that she was raped on the day her younger sister was buried.  The fact that she was drunk and undergoing therapy fails to make her understand that her rape assertions have holes.  Certain things about the legal eagles do become clear to her once the case is over.  On gate crashing a Christmas party, she sees the lawyers for what they really are.  Not the men with the moral high ground in court, but dope smoking, champagne-quaffing mates who don’t give their cases, win or lose, a second thought.  It’s only following her explanation as to why she needed therapy, that she glimpses some flicker of remorse.  Heather Craney imbues this account with such credibility that the whole episode is incredibly moving.

The final character is Kitty’s best friend Zara (Daisy Haggard) an actress who would like nothing more than to be in a happy relationship.  In order to do something about this, Kitty decides it would be wonderful if Zara and Tim could become an item. Unfortunately in the creative world of Nina Raine, life is never that simple.  Even though the emotive crime of rape is at the heart of Consent, the title doesn’t just allude to agreeing to have sex.  It also incorporates what you consent to within a marriage.  Adultery rears its ugly head more than once in this production and Raine explores how different people react to this form of betrayal.

The entire cast are exemplary.  Ben Chaplin has exactly the right air of self-righteous smugness at the start, when everything appears to be going his way.  Then when his marriage falls apart, the man who appears to have allowed the professional callousness required for his job as a defence lawyer to have invaded his personal life, totally breaks down.  Kitty’s complaint that he is totally lacking in emotion finally proves unfounded.  Her decision to try and make him understand the devastating effect of a loved one embarking on an affair, by doing the self same thing with Tim, has succeeded.  Anna Maxwell-Martin is in her usual tip-top form, concealing her long held bitterness behind a veneer of nervy cheeriness.  They make a most plausible couple and one wills them to put the past behind them at the end of the play.

Adam James and Priyanga Burford also succeed in convincing us that they are a fully rounded couple, even though their relationship is less detailed.  Daisy Haggard is instantly recognisable as a Bridget Jones type whose biological clock is ticking away madly, whilst Pip Carter, the perpetual batchelor is superb. 

All in all Nina Raine has done it again.  She has devised an amusing, non-judgemental insight into the legal profession and shone the spotlight on young, professional relationships.  Having Director Roger Michell at the helm is no bad thing either, for he ensures the acting matches the strength of the zippy writing.  Thoroughly recommended.

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