Review: THE INSEPARABLES, Finborough Theatre

Her male counterparts were playwrights as well as celebrated philosophers. There’s a strong case to be made that seeds of Existentialist philosophy are deeply rooted in Sartre’s Huis Clos, and Camus’s Caligula. So on paper it shouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination to adapt Simone de Beauvoir’s once lost autobiographical 1954 novella to the stage.

1920s Paris is still recovering from the echoes of war, nothing but a playground for precocious overachiever Andrée and her friend narrator Sylve. Their childhood years are buoyed by a love of clandestine books sneaked from their father’s libraries and long summer days frolicking in the countryside. They traverse the trials of adolescence as modernity brings newfound freedoms for women. Sylve exploits new opportunities to learn and self-express. Andrée is confined in the repressive old-world order by a despotic mother who coaxes her into marriage. The faith that Andrée clings onto becomes the wedge that drives the old friends apart.

It’s unfortunate timing. Eline Arbo’s critically lauded and commerically friendly The Years revival has just finished a victory lap in the West End, propelling the conversation about feminism and sexual liberation in the 20th century to the top of the theatre world’s agenda. Arbo’s Olivier win for best director was the icing on the cake.

Anchored by overly cautious writing that lacks enough dimensionality to convincingly mould its characters into living breathing human beings, The Inseparables feels overly restrained by comparison. Writing is heavily reliant on Sylve’s clumpy monologues directed at the audiences to flesh out the emotional dynamics of the subtext. More bravery would leave the audience to scrutinise character Andrée’s desperate grip on faith for themselves. Performances lack vital propulsion as a result.  

There are sparks of potential coiled in its discussion about reconciling faith with the modern world, but in its current form there’s nothing revelatory. You wouldn’t expect anything else from De Beauvoir, the core tenants of whose philosophy are predicated on uncompromisingly individualistic understanding of freedom. A good stage adaptation ought to justify itself by shining a new light onto its source material.  Perhaps this is one for the Simone de Beauvoir super fans.

The Inseparables plays at Finborough Theatre until 10 May