Mrs. Dalloway Review – Virginia Woolf’s party planner plays all the roles | Theater

AAs Clarissa Dalloway gazes across the stage, welcoming her audience indiscriminately before launching into a party game, the originals of Virginia Woolf’s scrupulous socialite seem to be missing. But this stage adaptation – written by Jen Heyes, who directs, and Kit Green, who acts – is a fascinating re-examination of the book, wrapped up as a multimedia-driven self-presentation.

Heyes has been experimenting with movies for quite some time. The scene evokes the work of Australian director Kip Williams, although it’s much simpler than his West End blockbusters, Sarah Snook’s. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Cynthia Erivo’s Dracula. In Heyes’ production, which features videos by Monika Koeck, Green’s Clarissa also interacts with many people on the screen, which she also portrays.

Among them are her husband Richard, her ex-girlfriend Sally Seton, maid Lucy, and PTSD veteran Septimus. Each character’s study is attentive: Peter Walsh, another old friend, plays with his pocketknife forever worrying about what could have been. When we arrive at Clarissa’s party, the fun scene sees the guests seemingly mingling, while Stephen Hull’s sound design provides the soundtrack. Elsewhere, the sight of birds, bees and the chimes of Big Ben help make a June day in London.

The show is much stronger when directed by the book. When Green pauses the story to reflect on his relationship to the word, his fear of Woolf, or to look at our own lives, it becomes maudlin. We also don’t get to listen to anyone else’s inner thoughts or see their thoughts change like we do in Woolf’s novel. But it is subjective and often powerful. The contrast between Green’s tortured Septimus on the screen and Clarissa’s calm on stage is enhanced by Koeck’s sepia color for the old soldier who shook the bullet, and the dark blue sea that seems to surround him as he struggles to come to terms with reality.

The technique includes Green’s on-stage performance, which flirts with cabaret while performing, and stand-up comedy as he grills his audience about his hometown. This may not be the Mrs. Dalloway you remember, but as a viewer it is one.