Arts:Blog

Theatre Review: Jumpy ***

Michael Cox reviews a solid production of a weak script.

April de Angelis’s play Jumpy has many ideas: modern feminism, midlife happiness, internet trolling, parent/teenager relationship, sexual fulfilment and identity crisis, amongst others. All of these topics are worthy of theatrical exploration, yet none of them get a fully satisfying airing here.

Hilary is stuck in a routine. She has a job she believes in but doesn’t necessarily enjoy—and with a lack of council funding, it might disappear at any minute. She’s married to Mark, but the passion has fizzled out long ago. Teenage daughter Tilly is too interested in friends and boys to bond with her, and even her chats with pal Frances give some joy but still lacks the intimacy it had in the past. Only her consumption of wine gives her any true reprieve.

All of this changes when Hilary discovers Tilly has had sex with current boyfriend Josh. Wanting to be responsible, she has a conversation with Josh’s parents to map out what to do with their teenage children. She instead manages to rock the boat, leading everyone to question his or her current personal fulfilment.

All of this is fine if it weren’t for a single problem: it’s too twee. Very few of the characters are developed and much of the dialogue is frothy instead of substantial. Even Hilary, fairly sympathetic in the first half, comes across more as the playwright’s mouthpiece in the second act. The result is a script that manages to land giggles but little else.

Director Cora Bissett, thankfully, has at least crafted a solid production. It’s well staged and has a clever design—including a rather cracking playlist. She has also cast a terrific company of players. Pauline Knowles is great as Hilary, making her humane and, more impressively, almost plausible. She is joined by a company of actors who have fun with their roles, each embracing the cartoon flimsiness of their character’s stereotype and rolling with it.

When the company is this talented, the time does at least pass in an entertaining enough way. But when the script is as shallow and predictable as this, the result is a production that is at best good enough. However, when taking into account how solid the company are, ‘good enough’ doesn’t quite feel good enough.

Jumpy performs at the Royal Lyceum until November 12^th.