Review: YOURS UNFAITHFULLY, Jermyn Street Theatre

It’s the 1930s, and the world is changing. While uninspired author Stephen struggles to find inspiration for his latest novel, his wife Anne gives him carte blanche and suggests he seeks stimuli outside of their marriage. The secret to their happiness is, after all, an open relationship and he should take advantage of that. Miles Malleson’s play peeks behind the curtains of this unconventional union with this self-described “un-romantic comedy”, exploring the space between ideological belief and feelings. Directed by Jonathan Bank, jealousy threatens to burn down the foundations of the happy couple.

Written almost a century ago and premiering in London for the first time, Yours Unfaithfully has the acquired taste of a fine vintage wine. The piece is typically English with typically un-English values. Malleson tangles and detangles his story only to tangle it all over again across three acts, which Bank separates with decisive breaks (a brief, rather unnecessary one after the opening half-hour, and a longer interval after the second act). The playwright challenges the traditional mores of monogamous society and includes a glorious, pointedly anti-religious harangue for good measure. It’s a surprisingly modern comedy of un-manners.

While Stephen and Anne advocate for trivial extramarital relationships as the key to marital bliss, the heart is a wild thing. Guy Lewis and Laura Doddington negotiate resentment and logic, expectations and reputation, pride and public perception as the spouses, while Keisha Atwell’s Diana and Dominic Marsh’s Alan add fodder. Tony Timberlake becomes the other weight on the scales of morality as Stephen’s father, a man of the cloth and all its dogmas.

The writing is deliciously witty, even the most unassuming intellectual sparring becomes meaty backstory information. While Lewis and Atwell’s faces keep gravitating towards one another in candid flirting, Doddington and Marsh have the dignified aura of former lovers whose affection has evolved into a chaste, honest friendship. Lewis gives a remarkably nuanced performance, transforming Stephen into a smitten goof until Anne’s true concerns are revealed to him.

While he’s high on dopamine thanks to Atwell’s glamorous Diane, Anne is conflicted. Doddington walks the tightrope between her “primitive and uncivilised” sentiment and her rock-solid convictions that relationships need some spice to be successfully lasting, happy ones. Ultimately, the beauty of Malleson’s play lies in the complexity of the passions he builds in his characters, which are often contrasting and contradictory. Anne is genuinely shocked that Stephen’s fling is having a negative effect on her, and Stephen is immediately affected by the idea that his actions and happiness are hurting her. Malleson crafts a fascinating, wonderfully lifelike universe of psychology and irrational response.

While the production is quite traditional per se, with static lighting that looks rather museum-like (William Reynolds) and a set design steeped in beautiful realism (Alex Marker), it debuts a script that was decidedly ahead of its time. The story is said to be inspired by Malleson’s own life (though his alleged bisexuality remains withheld in the text as well as on this stage) and the “happy ending” was probably way too forward for the inter-war theatre landscape. It is, however, perfectly at home 90 years later. Malleson introduces women who display unadulterated, unpunished independence, men with genuine emotions, and a couple who share impressive levels of communication. This forgotten classic feels brand new.

Yours Unfaithfully runs at Jermyn Street Theatre until 1 July.

Photo credit: Steve Gregson

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