Whose life is it anyway? Sixties classic about a family on the brink of meltdown is a biting social satire
Peter Nichols’ harrowing, yet mesmerising, play about a couple’s marriage crumbling under the weight of looking after a mentally handicapped child, was named by the National Theatre as one of the greatest plays of the 20thcentury.
The fact that it has never been produced at the National (just one of many theatre companies that deemed the taboo-busting drama too hot to handle when they were originally sent the script in the late 60s) is an irony not lost on the playwright, who made a special Q&A cameo appearance at the Citz last night for Phillip Breen’s splendid new production of the play.
Breen’s production is something of a homecoming for Nichols, who drew on his own experiences of his first child for the piece.
Comically absurd and heartbreaking by turn, employing a clash of styles - farce, high drama and stand up comedy - as well as characters breaking through the “fourth wall” to address the audience directly to express emotions and attitudes they can’t express to each other, “Joe Egg” first premiered at the Citz back in 1967, before transferring to London’s West End, and then onto Broadway.
Now it returns to its original roots, starring Harry Potter’s Miriam Margolyes, stand -up comedian Miles Jupp, Heartbeat’s Sarah Tansey, Joseph Chance and Olivia Darnley. And the thought provoking 60s classic has lost none of its power. Or its power to shock, as it plumbs great emotional depths while still managing to be incredibly funny.
At the play’s centre is wheelchair bound 10 year-old Josephine, or “Joe Egg”, as her parents - infantile, quick witted, harassed Bristol schoolteacher Bri (Jupp), and his doting wife Sheila ( Sarah Tansey) - dub her.
Her condition, as well as the condition of Bri and Sheila’s marriage, is then put under the microscope through a series of in-house Vaudevillian skits that populate the play detailing Joe’s history, as well as the agonies the couple have been through.
So pious vicars and not so compassionate paediatricians are lampooned, moral arguments about euthanasia raised. Then there's Bri’s relentless mockery, and constant joking, which is an “if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry” but ultimately soul destroying, defence mechanism against the harsh reality of the situation, that Sheila feels duty bound to go along with, even if her heart isn’t in it.
The second act sees smug friends, “socialist” industrialist Freddie (Chance, veering on a parody of Boycey from Only Fools and Horses); Darnley’s excellent snobbish Pam, whose non-PC views about “the wierdie” are truer of most people than they’d like to think, and Bri’s fussing mother (Margolyes), chip in their tuppenceworth.
Jupp turns in a riveting performance as the unravelling Bri, whose fantasy of getting life back to normal by killing his daughter is pushed to the brink in a role that seems tailor made for him. Tansey is equally impressive, turning in a deeply moving performance as the mother living on her nerves who hasn’t given up hope that things may improve. Both will surely be there, or thereabouts, when the CATS awards for Scottish theatre are dished out next year.
Playwrights, like novelists fall in and out fashion. A fate Nichols knows only too well. But every so often a revival of Joe Egg serves as a reminder of what a hugely talented playwright he is.
To that list can now be added Breen’s excellent production for the Citz. Which seems only fitting, seeing as the Gorbals was where the success of Joe Egg was first hatched.
It should be played like Coward, not Strindberg is Nichols’ take on the play. And Breen has taken him at his word here. If laughter in the dark is what you’re after , look no further. But prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster.
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, until Nov 12.Tel: 0141
