Summer and Smoke Review
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Audiences feeling the sting of a tragic unrequited love story
February 6, 2019 | Duke of York’s Theatre | London, UK
From the moment the lights rise on the seven upright pianos and the lone microphone standing center stage, you know you’re not about to enter into the typical world of a Tennessee Williams’ production. Rebecca Frecknall has stripped away all flourishes that may be found in a classic, more realistic version of Summer and Smoke to reveal the raw core of this play. The genius staging lends itself to showcase the clever and remarkable performances of Patsy Ferran, playing the anxious ridden Alma, and Matthew Needham, who carefully conveys the brutish vulnerability of the young doctor, John.
Summer and Smoke tells the tale of the unrequited, tragic love story of the daughter of a minister and the son of a doctor. Alma, whose name means “soul” in Spanish has been raised with a. spiritual-centric viewpoint of the world, juxtaposing John’s more carnal fascination and inquiring view. Therefore, their struggle to find a common ground interferes with their journey in truly finding each other and discovering their own sense of who they are. While you are desperately and hopelessly rooting for these two to come together, there are inevitably missing pieces from the puzzle that may never be uncovered.
Encapsulating the psyche of Alma, the designs of Tom Scutt worked seamlessly with Frecknall’s interpretation of the script. Choosing to focus on the character’s relationships and the beautiful poetic langue of Tennessee Williams, the bare stage is filled with steady changes of warm light, to sudden bursts of bright cool flashes in moments of despair or anxiousness. Keeping the audience holding their breath at the pivotal shot in the second act, you could almost feel everyone lean forward to the edge of their seats to absorb the revealing, glorious image.
The “will they/won’t they” relationship between Alma and John is fired and propelled by the magnetic energy Ferran and Needham share on stage. From the first moment we see them, they keep a tense distance, physically ebbing and flowing through the lines. Whichever words are spoken between them, you get the sense that they are closer to their authentic selves with each other than they are with any other character onstage. Each time they collide into each other, they leave bits of themselves to the other until we reach the point in the end when Alma admits that she was “suffocating from the smoke inside me.” As she recognizes her carnal need for Johnny, he has now discovered his spiritual need in Alma.
Although written over 50 years ago, the plot has an underlying anxiousness about it, lending itself to contemporary audiences. Today, more than ever, people young and old are still dealing with the constraints of societal pressure to conform and do what is expected. Following the characters’ need to fit in and not be judged, while still struggling to find their true selves, coupled by the fear of loneliness, it’s thrilling to become enveloped in Alma and John’s journey to find each other, all the while knowing it won’t work out quite how either would wish.
