Consent

Caught Courting

Consent

by Nina Raine

Teddington Theatre Club at the Coward Studio, Hampton Hill Theatre until 4^th May

Review by Heather Moulson

Against a traditional court-panelled backdrop, a party of four close friends celebrate the arrival of a new baby.  Kitty and Edward’s union appears watertight, while Jake and Rachel’s partnership is brittle. 

Jake is charming, yet resentful to the point of tipping over into anger. Beautifully played by Jacob Taylor, his Jake is a good counterbalance to Ellie Armstrong’s watchable Rachel, his disillusioned wife.  New parents Kitty and Edward, skilfully played by Rachel Burnham and Oliver Redpath, are sincere although their relationship is on the cusp of unravelling.  

The new father Edward is a barrister.  The setting cuts to a traumatic pre-court scene with rape victim Gayle, played poignantly by believable Robyn Bennett, and the clumsily reassuring and awkward Tim, who tried to convey the unjust rules to her.

Edward is a prosecutor for this same case.  Resulting later in a painful and tumultuous confrontation, a day’s work for Edward ends with tragic consequences. 

Back on home ground, Kitty and her pals try clumsily to pair off the likeable Tim, played by David Shortland, with Madeline Gordon’s Zara, a frustrated actor.   This worthy scene between close friends, however, somewhat slows down the pace. 

The pace picks up, as a now disturbed Jake breaks up with Rachel. The two sides of this marriage are presented sharply and clearly by both parties.  However, Jake and Rachel reunite, but Kitty’s entanglement with Tim results in a separation from Edward on acrimonious terms.

As legal advice is sought from the very cynical Laura, brutally played by Racheal Rajah, these human situations are seen from differing points of view, forcing Edward to come to terms with his suppressed emotions.

A strong and honest piece of writing, and intelligently directed by Jane Marcus, Consent is an insightful probing from different angles into fragile relationships.   Although it could have been tighter in places, the underlying tension was well done, and was enhanced by lighting designed by Rob Arundel and Harry Jacobs’s sound design.

Consent is a play whose plot unfurls in an intriguing manner and this sell-out production is classy.  

Heather Moulson, April 2024

Photography by Sarah J. Carter