This House

This House
By James Graham. Directed by Jeremy Herrin. National Theatre Live. Participating cinemas nationwide from June 8.

Despite its being touted as “Britain’s answer to the West Wing” in the publicity material, I could find little similarity to Aaron Sorkin’s writing in James Graham’s This House. Both may be about politics, but the emphases, tone and particularly treatment of comedic elements are entirely different.

This House comes to us courtesy of Sharmill Films as another in the series of National Theatre Live presentations, in which plays are videoed in high-def during a live run, giving them the opportunity to play for a larger, international audience. Set in the British Parliament between 1974-1978, its main characters are the party whips of both the Tory opposition and the incumbent Labour government. The play presents us with an insight to their professional lives – we see their struggles, their passion, their compromises and their occasional dirty dealing.

As an expose of the underside of the Westminster system, it works well – though I doubt anyone who has more than a passing interest in politics will find any of its revelations very surprising. There are some disturbing parallels between what happens in the play with what has been playing out in Australian politics over the past few years – at times I could almost have been watching our local Question Time.

The production was excellent - direction, staging and performances were all very strong - but the structure was oddly imbalanced. The very long first act at times seemed one interminable piece of scene-setting, with very little insight to what the characters were actually feeling. The second act made up for this, going into far more depth with the characters – so much so that it almost seemed the first act could have been entirely dispensed with. Or perhaps that’s just my lack of passion for the subject matter affecting my judgement.

Glancing at some of the British reviews for the play, the words “funny”, “quirky” and “mayhem” frequently crop up. Certainly there is political mayhem aplenty on display. But funny? Yes, the audience often thought so – but to my mind, the failings and imperfections of our political system, as eloquently displayed in this play and brought to life by some excellent performances, are more cause for sorrow and sober reflection than for laughter.

Alex Paige

Photographer: Johan Persson

www.sharmfilms.com.au 

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