Theatre / Ustinov Studio
Review: Footfalls and Rockaby, Ustinov Studio, Bath
Footfalls and Rockaby director Richard Beecham chose to stage these two Beckett plays now, over 40 years since they were first performed, because of the particular times we have collectively been through recently.
And indeed, the repetition of institutionalised rituals – confronting every day the futility of a lonely, trapped existence – does feel more familiar to post-lockdown audiences than it was to those of us who first saw these plays.
We are told in the programme timeline that Beckett was a young man of just 22 when he met James Joyce, and the Joycean influence is evident in Beckett’s poetic depiction of beautiful hopelessness. As with real poetry, we are deliberately left to interpret meaning, backstory and motivation for ourselves.
is needed now More than ever
This theatrical experience is more cathartic than it could ever sound when described – each element of the production slowly winds down to a bleak finish – but nevertheless, it is strangely uplifting.
Charlotte Emmerson as May – photo: Steve Gregson
In Footfalls, Charlotte Emmerson as May (and, anagrammatically, Amy) counts her paces back and forth – nine steps and a wheel turn – whilst communicating with the disembodied, remembered voice of her mother.
As a child, she needed to feel the floor beneath her feet as she stepped. With time and memory wearing her down, as her relationship with the older woman in her memory becomes antagonistic, her footsteps remain numbered but become less defined.
Similarly, the rocking motion driven by Siân Phillips in Rockaby becomes gradually smaller, as she resents waking yet again to each new day – literally willing death to come to her.
Her enunciation is exquisite, her voice enveloping, but her singing of the already unnerving lullaby Rockabye Baby is quietly terrifying. Just being in the same room as Siân Phillips for 45 minutes was pretty thrilling for me anyway.
Simon Kenny – who must be doing his bit for the theatre industry’s green book by repurposing strip lights and fluorescent tubes – has designed a set which is both open-sided and prison-like.
Elegantly lit by Ben Ormerod, both actors are more visible than via the original Beckett method of impersonal delivery. I am glad we can see facial expression here; it makes the human condition we are confronting slightly more bearable.
And huge respect to sound designer Adrienne Quartly, who creates an inner chill wind to accompany our increasing despondency.
This a Jermyn Street theatre production, whose only other venue is the Ustinov Studio where it runs until early December. Do see it, but be warned – Mamma Mia it ain’t.
Footfalls and Rockaby is at Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath BA1 1ET, daily (except Sundays and Mondays) until December 4, at 7.30pm, with extra matinee shows at 3.30pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tickets are available at www.theatreroyal.org.uk.
Main photo: Steve Gregson
Read more: Review: Oleanna, Ustinov Studio, Bath
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