BWW Reviews: RADIANCE, Tabard Theatre, Feb 6 2015

The life of Marie Curie - moving from Poland to France, her happy marriage and working partnership with Pierre, the Nobel Prizes, the death from radiation poisoning - seems ample material for a terrific drama.

Alan Alda's Radiance, running at the Tabard Theatre, opts to focus on the 'scandalous' relationship between the widowed Mme Curie and physicist Paul Langevin, and relies on a lot of awkward exposition, stringing together what seems to be dozens of very short scenes.

Here, Mme Curie is played by Cathy Tyson, and her lover by James Palmer, accompanied by one of the most ridiculous costume moustaches I have ever seen on the stage, which interestingly has the effect of making him appear younger, like a small child playing dress-up, rather than conferring the gravitas of middle-age that he should have. (Mme Langevin, played by Zoe Teverson, doesn't fare much better with her gigantic nest-like wig.)

The early scenes with the Curies in their lab are touching, with Clive Moore a fond Pierre. After that, he play descends into melodrama, with quick exits and swift scene changes and lengthy monologues to fill in the events of years gone by.

The awkwardness of the piece is no reflection on its star, Tyson, a fine performer; indeed, occasionally she is so far above this production she seems to be in another play entirely.

Radiance runs at the Tabard Theatre.