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Review: Personal Values (Hampstead Theatre)

Review by Sophie Wilby

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

Personal Values is the professional debut play of writer Chloe Lawrence-Taylor, currently playing Downstairs at Hampstead Theatre. Despite a run time of just 60 minutes, it covers a lot of ground. It is a story of sisterhood complicated by grief, mental illness and divided loyalties - though the darkness of such themes is softened by a humour throughout which lightens the tone. 


 

Veda (Holly Atkins) and Bea (Rosie Cavaliero) are sisters living very separate lives following a somewhat cataclysmic incident at their father’s funeral - though we soon learn that their relationship has been difficult for many years prior. In the face of a developing illness, Veda visits Bea at her home, wanting to make amends and reintroduce her sister to her teenage son Ash (Archie Christoph-Allen) in the hope that she can become a support for him should the worst happen. But Bea’s home is teetering under the weight of her hoarding - so much so that she can no longer reach the upstairs. As the two rehash the past, in the hope of building a new future, a twist brings Veda’s son back into Bea’s life sooner than expected. 

 

As the two sisters, Atkins and Cavaliero each have stand-out moments of real poignancy. The tension throughout their interactions ebbs and flows, as each takes their turn to express their frustrations with one another, assassinating each other's characters in a way only siblings can. Atkins and Cavaliero do well to manage this range of emotion, especially at the pace of which their interaction demands it. Atkins is constantly battling between concern or sympathy for her sister and frustration or disappointment. Similarly, Cavaliero flits between denial and acceptance, she is ashamed of her illness but feels physically and mentally trapped by it, ultimately resulting in her inability or unwillingness to seek help.



Though each navigated their way through this complicated internal range well, there were times when a stiltedness - beyond what you’d expect from the awkwardness of such an interaction - appeared to take over, and left me with a feeling of watching two people read lines back-and-forth. It wasn’t a disconnectedness of the sisters as characters, but of something else, and I couldn’t place if it was a clunkiness within the script that caused these jarring moments or of Atkins and Cavaliero struggling to find a believable sisterly chemistry. Whatever the cause, it detracted from the emotion of the play which made the twist that leads into the latter part of the play harder to buy into. 

 

Making his debut at Hampstead Theatre, Christoph-Allen makes the most of his limited time on stage, delivering an emotive and compelling performance as a young man consumed by grief. Despite a strong performance, there is a question of the necessity of his role within the story. The subtext of Veda’s visit to Bea is that she is urging Bea to not let Ash become her. We learn that Bea’s hoarding spiralled following the death of their mother as she became a career for her father, who was so consumed by grief that he was incapable of being alone. Veda’s subtle concern is that Ash, a teenager she describes as already isolating himself from his family, and who rarely leaves his room, will become Bea - forced into a role of caring for her husband, Sid (whom she describes less than favourably) and failing to live his own life. It is an interesting subtext, introducing the cyclical nature of family relationships and the difficulty in breaking them, but it is one that is too loose to be truly engaging, especially as it is secondary to the relationship between the two sisters which is of the greatest interest. 



 Set in Bea’s cluttered house, the set design (Naomi Dawson) works perfectly in the small theatre space - it is oppressive and overwhelming as an audience member, bringing us into the house so that we feel as trapped by it as Bea. The direction (Lucy Morrison) of the characters within the space emphasise this with Bea ludicrously climbing over piles of things to reach a kettle placed impractically on a high shelf demonstrating the near impossibility of living within such a space. Similarly effective, eerie and prophetic lighting (Holly Ellis) was tactfully used to compliment the story whilst a dreary, rainy soundscape captured the mood well even if it did teeter into over exaggeration with occasional eerie creaks feeling reminiscent of a haunted house from a funfair. 

 

Personal Values is a refreshingly sympathetic exploration of a mental illness often paraded for public display to shame sufferers, and there is certainly potential for further development to delve deeper into each of the complicated family dynamics touched upon throughout the play. It is an impressive debut play, and one that showcases a talented writer with great potential.

 

Personal Values plays at Hampstead Theatre until May 17th

 

 

Photos by Helen Murray

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