Grief Over Happy

Press photo

Dear friends,

Remember Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh's 2008 film about the incurably optimistic Poppy who was too irritatingly perky for my liking that I just wanted to reach over and give her a slap?  Now think of the opposite of that; the anti-thesis to Poppy, if you like, and you come close to describing Dorothy, the heroine of Mike Leigh's new play at the National Theatre, Grief.

Except that she's not really a heroine.  The word "heroine" implies that the woman to which that description has been ascribed had risen above some obstacles that would have brought ordinary mortals to defeat; someone who had risen above the occasion.  That is not true for Dorothy, or for any character in the play.  In truth, the best that any character has done about their oppressive circumstances is put up a brave face.  "Stiff upper lip" as the English like to say.  In fact, it's all very English, down to the beige wallpaper, the beige carpet, the beige sofa.

The entire auditorium, it seems, has been cleverly set up to allow grief to weigh down even more on the audience as it thickens.  The Cottesloe Theatre, which is National's most flexible auditorium can pretty much be customised according to the director's wishes.  Upon entering, the audience finds the auditorium almost grave: walls are dark, seats are narrow and tightly squeezed, the stage is narrowed and drawn close to the audience, and the set is a nice living room with no character, no signs of wear, and a bit depressing.

Grief has seven characters in it technically, but I would add one more, the biggest character of them all, and that is grief itself.  It permeates through everything and everyone in the play and becomes more oppressive as the clock ticks away.  Two hours long and no intermission, it is merciless. It just builds and builds and does not give the audience a chance to get a breath of fresh air. At the end of the play, an audience member said to me, "What a horrible play! Downright depressing."  And it occurred to me that by that reaction, Mike Leigh and the cast succeeded.

The success of the play rests in large part on the stellar performance of Lesley Manville, Mike Leigh's most frequent collaborator.  Her slow descent into utter devastation is firmly watchable.

Like Happy-Go-Lucky, Grief does not have a plot.  But where that was irritating and felt almost patronising with Happy, it works very well with Grief.  Indeed, the play worked very effectively as a tool for the exploration and investigation of an emotion.  And this, I think, is the main reason I like the play so much - it is an instance when a play steps into the artistic realm of a painting.


Until then, sweet-tarts, kisses,

Hollie-Go-Lightly



Links:
Grief
National Theatre
Mike Leigh
Happy-Go-Lucky