BWW Reviews: YEAR OF THE FAMILY Surprises and Scandalises at King's Cross Theatre

Tooth and Sinew theatre company have once again shown their penchant for controversy and passion in their latest offering, an abstraction of renowned Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson's Year of the Family. When an audience member steps into the domestic environment of strangers, they always know they're in for an experience to push boundaries and transport into real introspection, which Ash Bell has pushed even further in her stage design. Ultimately, what audiences can expect is a humourously voyeuristic piece they can comfortably walk away from feeling better about their own trauma.

Claire is dating two men, neither of which are good for her: Sid the abusive and Dickie the co-dependent. Although the audience senses that Claire's thirst for freedom and mania will rescue her from the clutches of this triangle, a connection between them emerges to destroy her. Meanwhile, her fraught relationship with half-sister Fliss is stretched to its limits when Fliss believes she's found the long-lost father they didn't share: a homeless man plucked off the street and promptly manipulated into nuclear domestic servitude. Although the climax is one the audience can see coming by a mile thanks to the many reiterations and reinterpretations of Neilson's once iconic and unique work, Richard Hilliar does a good job of drawing the humour and action to the front, giving the audience as many belly laughs as nausea attacks. Year of the Family has real guts.

Congratulations are due to a cast that really committed to their performances and took to dark content with humanity. The decision - presumably Hillier's - to emphasise the physical components of the narrative gave legs to the cast's portrayals. Special mention to Nicole Wineberg who pulled out all the stops and all the tics to make her character the most interesting and reliable to watch and share the journey of. David Woodland as the pitiful Dickie, and Brendan Miles as the born again suburban father figure both expertly walked the line between caricature and crafted persona. Peter-William Jamieson gave great foil (and great torso) to a role that needed to leave just enough room for empathy around villainous manipulation and brutality which Jamieson did confidently and effectively. The role of Claire is Brooke Ryan's return to the stage after some hiatus, and it's a good thing she's back, her potential shining through in the more isolated dramatic moments towards the end of the work.

Year of the Family will take you back to every rotten Christmas dinner at your place and all of your exes places rolled into one. Neilson's work has long been world-renowned for making people uncomfortable, and although the play was solid, there was a gear it backed off on - perhaps for the better. The caverns between humour and drama seemed at times a bit far for the performances to jump, and due to the prevalence of Neilson's tropes in other popular works, what once could have been high-impact read as predictable, what could be deep was glossed over. That said, the play was first produced in 1994, and compliments to the team at Tooth & Sinew for staying true to the time period in set pieces, serving a valiant ode to the original work.

Year of the Family is a great way to kick off a night of honest conversation with your friends and family, and of course a mouthful of sweet schadenfreude.

Year of the Family is running until 20th February. Tickets are available trybooking.com/kaiy or via the Tooth & Sinew website or Facebook page..

To post a comment, you must register and login.