Splendour at The Donmar

This is something you don't see very often; a stage devoid of men! Splendour, written by Abi Morgan in 2000, has an all female cast of four and is currently showing at The Donmar.  Set in a reception room of the presidential palace in an unspecified country, this oddly assembled group begin their meeting with the semblance of affability.

Micheleine, the splendidly regal wife, played with great poise by Sinead Cusack, is holding court whilst waiting for the return of her husband, the president.  Her and her errant hubby are to be photographed by the hard nosed British photo journalist, Kathyrn (Genevieve O’Reilly) who because she doesn't speak the language, has a very light fingered, inept interpreter called Gilma,  played by Zawe Ashton.   Gilma spends most of the play secreting various items into her handbag.  The final member of this quartet is Micheleine's supposed best friend, Genevieve (Michelle Fairley).

Although we never find out in exactly which country this meeting takes place, Micheleine's love of chic shoes and clothes has a whiff of Imelda Marcus.  However Abi Morgan is obviously less concerned with the setting than the obvious precariousness of the four women.  Micheleine’s unease at the lateness of her husband’s return, gathers pace when it becomes obvious that he’s not going to come back at all.   Kathryn, not being au fait with the language being spoken, resorts to using her photographer's sense of sight, luckily so as her interpreter mistranslates at will.  And the bonds of friendship between the two local women are tenuous to say the least. One of them even states, “35 years is a long time to despise one's best friend” ..... Ouch!   

This tension and mutual distrust within the room is heightened by Abi Morgan's unusual structure of the play.  Each scene is replayed from different perspectives (each one signaled by the smashing of a Venetian vase), thus rendering them slightly different each time.  Plus all the women voice their own thoughts.  Add to this the fact that the dialogue lurches backwards and forwards and one’s sense of what’s going becomes rather scrambled, despite the picture that the playwright is painting seems transparent from the outset.

The performances by all four women are exemplary, whilst Robert Hastie’s direction is spot on.  Sinead Cusack, who actually never seems to put a foot wrong in whatever she does, is perfectly cast as the outwardly ice-cool but inwardly flustered Micheleine.  Genevieve O’Reilly excellently portrays the impatient photo journalist, who would much rather by on the front line than hanging around waiting for someone who never appears.  And Zawe Ashton and Michelle Fairley are equally impressive as the acquisitive translator and put upon best friend.

A splendid evening’s theatre.