Review: Agnes Colander, Ustinov Studio

Pictured above: Sally Scott as Emmeline. All pics: Simon Annand

In spite of Harley Granville Barker’s reported note that this script was “very poor”, his century-old Edwardian piece about the female condition has been discovered in the archives and is now onstage.

American playwright Richard Nelson – along with critic Colin Chambers – discovered Barker’s old typescript of Agnes Colander in the archive. “It is clearly a draft,” Nelson notes in the programme: and this is “an actable script out of a faulty typescript of an early draft of a very early play”. The problem is that the audience don’t know this, unless they buy and then read the programme once they’re in their seats. Sadly, a full production with a great creative team means we expect quality (and, usually, finished) work.

But you might like it! Naomi Frederick (last seen in Bath being truly excellent in The Mentor – our review) plays the Hedda Gabler-esque Agnes well. It’s just a really irritating role: a hand-wringing “woman artist” who can’t decide whether to spend her energies painting, learning how to cook or running between a triptych of Edwardian male archetypes (or stereotypes): The Artist-Bear, The Authoritarian and The Young Prude (cast your mind back to EM Forster, DH Lawrence, Ibsen or Strindberg and bingo: there’s your cast). In fact, Agnes is so busy enjoying oscillating between options that it seems that very little art ever happens (with the exception of the painting we’re left with, in her final, self-obsessed, teenagey gesture).

Matthew Flynn (Otho Kjoge) and Naomi Frederick (Agnes Colander)

The rest of the cast are also excellent. Matthew Flynn’s Otho is a playful joy; Freddy Carter’s Alexander is delicious; Sally Scott’s Emmeline a gorgeous twist of sugared lime. There is even (much welcomed) humour in Cindy-Jane Armbruster’s maids, Martha and Suzon. So as an ensemble, this team – obviously extremely well directed by Trevor Nunn – really help you warm to a script that, in my view, does not earn its keep.

Rob Jones’s set is pitch-perfect and smile-makingly smart. Fergus O’Hare’s sound and Paul Pyant’s lighting designs are cherries on the sensory cake. What a world has been made here – utterly convincing. Steven Edis’s music? Spot-on. You see? Apart from the actual script, it’s all really good theatre-craft.

And, while I don’t, you might relish the unfulfilled potential of Theme A (how hard it can be for a woman to express herself artistically in Edwardian times, for instance) philosophising at Theme B (say, free will, or The Female as a “freely-given” possession). You might enjoy working out what light this play sheds on the lives of today’s audiences. I’ve sought, and found myself wanting.

Freddy Carter (Alexander Flint) and Matthew Flynn (Otho Kjoge)

It could have been so much better. But we have been served up what is labelled in the small print as “an early draft”. That’s not fair on audiences. Dare I say it, it’s a forgetful indulgence not to flag up front and centre that this is a purist staging of an early draft (no cuts, no attempt at modern spin; even the stage directions have been preserved), which the writer said was “poor”.

A further exploration of the script could give today’s audiences something meaningful – perhaps even with a woman writer on board (after this review, it won’t be me!), to avoid the obvious risk of “mansplaining”. Because there’s value here: but, while a near-miss, it is – sadly – a miss.

Agnes Colander: An Attempt at Life, continues at the Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath until April 14. For more info, visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk/event/agnes-colander

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