Review: OWNERS, Jermyn Street Theatre

In 1972, Caryl Churchill’s first professionally staged work Owners caused quite the stir when it opened. Part farcical comedy, part biting critique of the housing crisis, her play now returns from Artistic Director Stella Powell-Jones.

While her husband Clegg’s beloved butcher shop has just closed, his property developer wife Marion is on her next mission to buy a house from close friends Alec and Lisa, who are expecting another child. Crossing multiple lines to get what she wants, this satirises property ownership and the people who own rented accommodation.

While ostensibly about various types of ownership (property, material, personal) and the ridiculous extremes some will take, backdropped in one of the biggest housing crises, what I noticed is it’s just as much a play about misogyny. When the play opens with Clegg expressing his desire to kill his wife for having the audacity to run a successful career, you somewhat understand Marion’s resentment as she rebels against what everyone expects of her. While rightfully capped off by a stinging monologue in act two, the message can now feel skewed as she commits such morally reprehensible actions as adultery and adopting Lisa and Alec’s baby to get to their house.

While these subjects feel relevant in today’s Britain where the Conservative Party have made it increasingly difficult for people to get on the housing ladder, others now feel tasteless. Namely a running gag involving Marion’s spineless Wolsely's failure to commit suicide as he enters the stage with one shocking injury to the next, and the dubious consent during Lisa and Clegg’s salacious rendezvous in act two.

The intimacy of the Jermyn Street may feel like a hindrance to the play’s big setting of a sprawling North London, but the near claustrophobic staging cleverly represents the character’s interpersonal connections. Cat Fuller’s simple yet distinctly London-esque set featuring doors backdrop the action, with her kitschy 70’s costumes and furniture adding to the satire. Chuku Emebolu’s lighting complements it, transporting the characters to various settings as songs such as Oliver’s! "Who Will Buy?" play.

The cast is all in strong form. Laura Doddingon (The Midwich Cuckoos) plays steely Marion as a force to be reckoned with as she embarks on her plan, letting her vulnerability slip when others question her motivations. One is Worsely, her underling played with humour by Tom Morley (Red Sparrow) as he intimates the Arlingtons with talks of fair rent taking over controlled rent and makes a good duo with Mark Huckett’s Clegg. Out of all the cast, it's Boadicea Ricketts who elicits the most sympathy and laughs as put-upon wife Lisa, who takes her own extremes to get her child back.

This revival of Owners may not pack as much of a punch or elicit as many laughs as it did, but Caryl Churchill’s satire still feels relevant in its bleak timeliness. With a strong cast and clever staging, sometimes its heavy handedness can be justified as it examines what we’re willing to do to get what we want in a society that prevents us from doing so.

Owners runs at Jermyn Street Theatre until November 11.

Photo Credits: Steve Gregson

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!