Stories at The Dorfman

Nina Raine’s last play, Consent, also performed at The Dorfman, threw  light on the legal system, allegations of rape and “who should believe who”.  Alongside these serious issues, there was a heavy dose of wit, highlighting the fact that this playwright is a dab hand at comic dialogue. As a result, my expectations regarding her latest offering, Stories, were pretty high. Her new hot topic concerns a childless, recently dumped woman in her late thirties, who is desperate for a baby and decides to go down the sperm donor route.

Whilst Raine once again deploys her talent at portraying serious issues with a lightness of touch, Stories doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor.

The woman in question, Anna, is played by Claudie Blakley and, although we can’t quite sympathise with her plight (if this is down to the script or her performance or a bit of both, I’m not too sure) she is, nevertheless very watchable.  Her search for a suitable donor is undergone pretty much as if she were casting a play, intentionally so, perhaps, as her career is something in the theatre world.  Each man she “interviews”, plus her ex, is brilliantly played by Sam Troughton, although her choice of father is somewhat suspect.  We have, amongst others, a super-cool movie director knee deep in anecdotes, a bereaved actor who is disappointed that it’s not an acting job she’s offering and some flake from the music business.  What they all have in common is a deep reluctance to commit to anything appertaining to being an adult.

There are also good performances from the actors portraying Anna’s family. Stephen Boxer is her dad, who, although often crass with a default sarcasm is always supportive.  Margot Leicester her mother, is suitably motherly and sympathetic and Brian Vernel makes a very realistic younger brother; honest to a fault and with a good line in sibling bickering.

The set by Designer Jeremy Herbert is very effective.  A stage dividing the Dorfman in two, with sliding geometric shapes is the ideal way of showcasing a play consisting of many short sharp scenes in various locations.

What isn’t so persuasive is that Raine includes another two characters, namely the young daughter of Anna’s best friend and an elderly lady on her deathbed.  The girl is presumably a plot device so that the reading of stories is included in the play, but I can’t understand why she has a surreal intermittent interaction with a couple of the would-be suitors.  The old woman is childless and as she dies at the end of the play, Stories ends on a very downbeat note.  I left the theatre pondering why she is even introduced.  May be an attempt to portray the passages of a woman’s life?  Probably, but the whole device seems strained and last minute.

It’s a pity to be negative about a play written by such a talented playwright and I do wonder if she should have handed the directorial reins over to someone else.