Grace Saif with Tom Mothersdale in Sea Creatures, Hampstead Theatre, April 2023, Photo: Marc Brenner
Cordelia Lynn’s play is ready in an outdated fisherman’s cottage, which has been prolonged through the years and now features a glass-fronted kitchen space from the place you’ll be able to take within the view of the ocean.
The cottage and its modern extension are a bit like its inhabitants: A contemporary household with a love of outdated tales and myths stuffed with sea creatures like mermaids and selkies.
It’s a vacation retreat owned by Shirley (Geraldine Alexander), a professor who does not like anybody in her workplace except invited.
Her associate Sarah (Thusitha Jayasundera), is an artist who paints city landscapes when she is within the nation and the nation when she’s within the metropolis. Toni (Grace Saif) is Shirley’s youngest daughter and ‘consciously naive’ (she behaves like somebody a lot youthful), and her sister George (Pearl Chanda) is unhappily pregnant.
Then there’s the third sibling Robin, whose whereabouts is unknown. Her boyfriend, Mark (Tom Mothersdale), is staying in her room within the hope that she turns up.
And that is sort of the play, the wait and the whereabouts of Robin.
The inhabitants of the cottage are an odd mixture of ordinariness and kookiness, just like the play. It is, in lots of senses, a typical summer time with swims, walks and evenings of charades (not as enjoyable to observe as it’s to participate, maybe).
Mixed in are the outdated tales and tales of the ocean, typically darkish and romantic.
The tempo of life is languid, as you’ll anticipate throughout a sizzling summer time, however the play is languid too.
There are bursts of dialog, comings and goings to make tea or toast and a variety of sitting round. It is a sluggish filling of time, one through which Mark tends to prepare dinner, doing the whole lot by hand: “Once I made 32 meringues whisking manually”. There is a variety of cooking and meals speak.
Mark likes to indicate off his data and talent but seeks reassurance elsewhere. He has darkish fantasies the place he inflicts ache on others and himself however to what finish?
And that’s the main drawback; the play lacks a cohesive path and does not handle to marry the extra poetic parts with the on a regular basis. At one level, in an elevated second of ‘kookiness’, two lobsters ‘escape’ throughout the kitchen ground. They are toys on wheels pulled by a string, and I’m unsure if we’re purported to imagine they’re actual.
For all of the speak and the metaphorical legendary tales, the characters really feel under-explored, and the thriller of Robin is unresolved.
Sea Creatures is a well-acted however unsatisfactory watch. I’m giving it ⭐️⭐️ and a half stars.
Sea Creatures, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs
Written by Cordelia Lynn
Directed by James McDonald
Running time 1 hour 50 minutes with out an interval
Booking till 29 April, go to the Hampstead Theatre web site for extra data and tickets.
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