Review: SUMMER AND SMOKE, Duke Of York's Theatre

Rebecca Frecknall's production of Summer and Smoke lands in the West End after a starry run at Almeida Theatre earlier this year. In its new incarnation, one of Tennessee Williams' undervalued pieces is turned into an aesthetic dream to inspire a broader reflection on how the 1948 play resonates 70 years later.

Spiritual and naïve Alma (Patsy Ferran) - a minister's daughter with a penchant for anxiety - struggles with her feelings for John (Matthew Needham), a carnal young doctor. Williams explores the becoming of a man and the crumbling of a woman in a small town in Mississippi in the early 1900s.

Tom Scutt and Lee Curran, who curate set and lighting design respectively, turn the Duke of York's into a painting. Hazy, cutting lights are welded into an earthy and rural scene. Seven upright pianos, their insides exposed by the lack of casing, line the wooden half-moon stage, while red bricks and soil give a definite sylvan slant to the setting.

The immobile scenery meets the audience halfway, requesting them to use their imagination to move the action around numerous locations. This automatically raises the plot to a more figurative level, removing any precise visual cues and making it a universal experience.

Carolyn Downing's soundscape accompanies the narrative expressing the inner conflicts of the characters in bustling compositions (by Angus Macrae). The addition of songs decelerates the pace and centres the frenzy to the core, as well as acting almost as a Greek chorus.

As Alma and John gravitate towards each other with different intentions, Ferran and Needhan build the sexually charged and predatory ambience. The latter is wolfish in his bearing, towering over Ferran's figure and turning her into a rag doll on various occasions. He is certainly a man of his time and embodies the definition of "boys will be boys".

They detail their journeys with precision physically and chemistry wise by essentially being polar opposites. The actress delivers the mental tribulations of her character tangibly, developing her movements with the progression of Alma's descent. The performers dance with the intensity of their exchanges, which evolve over the course of the story.

Frecknall's final product binds the play to its time: Williams' ideas have become outdated and, as a text, Summer and Smoke hasn't aged too well per se. By presenting it as she does, the director instigates a larger conversation on abuse, weakness, and masculinity itself.

Williams writes John as a manipulating man whose redemption arc drives Alma to her breaking point. The direction highlights her distressed path, haunting her being with more than temptation. John's belittlement of her is brushed away, and Alma's acceptance of the treatment is worrisome to the extreme.

Single actors cast as multiple characters introduce yet another element of exploration, especially when considering how Forbes Masson conveys different demands and pressures as father to both Alma and John, and how Anjana Vasan becomes John's sensual companion through many women, as well as being Alma's constant worldly antipode.

As performed by the company, the piece appeals to the critical side of the audience to connect the dots; it's up to them to validate or condemn what they see offered with exquisite taste on stage. This gorgeous transfer therefore fulfils its ultimate potential when met with a radical engagement.

Summer and Smoke runs at Duke of York's Theatre until 19 January, 2019.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner