Grief by Mike Leigh at National Theatre

Grief by Mike Leigh at National Theatre

21 September, 2011
by: Naima Khan

The new play from Mike Leigh is a solid piece of theatre, typical of the playwright but is it worth the hype? Naima Khan reviews. 

There are few playwrights who can get the National Theatre to send out a press release that informs the nation's journalists that he is “working with a company of actors” to “explore characters, relationships, themes and ideas”, leaving us to assume that it will also feature words and some costumes, in a production about a story, where some things happen to some people, and they probably do some stuff, or something.

But Grief, which finally announced its title less than two weeks before opening, is an example of why we give Mike Leigh such elevated status. His personality fills the stage in this typically contemplative play that doesn't waste a word but explores a depressing subject with the help of life's most spirited individuals.

As is usual for Leigh, everything is crafted around his characters and Grief could be performed on bare boards above a pub and we'd still be able to see each of his points talking right at us. The first one comes via Lesley Manville as Dorothy, weighed down by the demands placed on her by everyone, especially herself, as she continues to struggle with life in the late '50s after the death of her husband. Victor, we assume, died during the war. His fifteen year-old daughter Victoria never knew him but suffers life in the shadow of his absence and her mother's perpetually quiet sadness.

These grey and broken characters are visited by their bright but ineffectual friends. Chatty, cheerful Gertrude (a buzzing Marion Bailey) and the hilariously inappropriate Hugh (David Horovitch, loveable as ever) serve not only as a great contrast but a reminder of a place our protagonists can't repatriate to, a world that carries on without Victor.

A male take on loneliness comes in the form of Edwin, Dorothy's live-in brother, who retires during the course of the play. With no wife or children of his own, he occupies an odd place in his sister's life. She seems grateful for the company and the dated satisfaction of having man to prepare dinner for, and they both cling to the saving grace of routine. But the nostalgic, habitual way they talk to each other illuminates the reality of being with someone and feeling alone all the same.

The only honest character comes in the form of matter-of-fact Irish cleaner who has no problem pointing out Victoria's appalling manners and the slightly delusional way Dorothy goes about her life.

From one of those rare playwrights who can direct his own work, one whose self-indulgence is a good thing, Grief is still nothing new. But it is undeniably well-crafted theatre that reminds us that there is no right way to mourn, that for all our contemporary counselling, and understanding of mental health issues, the scenes that unfold in Grief will probably never be rare.  

Grief runs at Cottesloe, National Theatre until 28th January 2012




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Naima Khan