Review: VISITORS, Watermill Theatre

Barney Norris wrote his debut play Visitors when he was only twenty years-old. Following its 2014 premiere at the Arcola, it garnered critical acclaim and earned Norris a Critic's Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. Following a national tour and Off-West End run at the Bush, Norris returns almost a decade later in the director's chair for Visitors' first major revival at the Watermill Theatre.

Arthur and his wife Edie live in a farm on Salisbury Plain. Edie has dementia, and her son Stephen has hired blue-haired Kate as her caretaker. As Edie's memory worsens, Visitors explores how its characters deal with her condition, how it affects their relationships and what it really means to live.

Almost a decade on since Visitors' premiere, Norris shows the same love and care for his characters and setting both in writing and direction. Knowing his young age while writing it, this revival now shows an air of maturity as his heart-tugging, heart-wrenching yet funny script feels wise beyond its years. As its four characters navigate Edie's diagnosis with differing opinions, Norris never diminishes her condition or treats it with pity.

Tessa Bell-Briggs (Skins) and Christopher Ravenscroft's (Casualty) touching performances as Edie and Arthur respectively anchor Visitors' four-piece ensemble. You believe they've been together for sixty years as Bell-Briggs switches between half-describing vivid memories of their wedding day to making surprisingly perceptive comments on her dementia. Ravenscroft handles Arthur with equal parts love and stubbornness as he tells Kate stories about the hardships of post-war life, explaining his pride to take care of Edie despite his own struggles with ageing.

While Norris treats his elderly characters with empathy, he allows new perspectives through Kate played with messiness and curiosity by Nathalie Barclay (Killing Eve). Wearing blue streaks and entering with a giant backpack, she grows to treat Edie and Arthur as family as she uses her new job to find purpose in life.

Patrick Toomey (Nolly) rounds the cast as estranged son Stephen, more of a stranger to his parents as he lives own life working in insurance with a wife and teenage daughters. Capable of making the audience anticipate the punchline of an overlong joke about Hell, Tooney brings awkwardness and complexity to a potentially one-dimensional antagonist, as he tries doing what he thinks is best for his parents.

Also capturing Visitors' beauty is Good Teeth's set design. Fitting the Watermill's intimate setting, golden crops border a wall featuring two embroidered armchairs, a wooden chair and a telly in the corner. Proving seemingly insignificant props can show so much character, James Whiteside's lighting design complements them as gold rays bathe the character and capture Edie's deteriorating mental state. Ed Lewis' sound design immediately immerses us in rural Salisbury Plain as we hear crops blowing in the wind and birds chirping in the distance.

A delicately told story that handles dementia with sensitivity, Norris' love for Visitors shows no signs of slowing down in this moving revival. With beautiful staging and a phenomenal four-piece ensemble led by Tess Bell-Briggs and Christopher Ravenscroft in career best performances, it's the kind of play that makes you question life for better or worse. Why it's never had a West End run remains a mystery.

Visitors is at the Watermill Theatre until 22 April

Photo Credit: Pamela Raith

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