The Herd, Bush Theatre - theatre review

Dynamic debut for Kinnear the playwright
The Herd at The Bush Theatre Adrian Bower as Mark, Louise Brealey as Claire,
Alastair Muir
20 September 2013

Rory Kinnear is one of the outstanding stage actors of his generation but here the 35-year-old star shows a different side as he makes an accomplished play-writing debut.

The Herd portrays a divided and unhappy yet by no means desolate family, preparing to celebrate the 21st birthday of Andy, who is severely disabled.

What at first seems a mild comedy of manners, albeit with several hints of strain, becomes a raw drama in which simmering resentments boil over.

Kinnear writes truthfully about the pleasures and agonies of intimate relationships. Though much of the play is sensitive and tender, there are moments of fury. After a sedate opening — perhaps a little too sedate — the revelations spew forth and the production by Howard Davies intensifies.

There are nicely detailed performances. Amanda Root brings wiry potency to Andy’s robust, angry mother Carol and Louise Brealey has a suitably pent-up precision as his frustrated sister Claire. Carol’s father is given an air of jovial candour by Kenneth Cranham. And when Claire’s boyfriend Mark appears, introducing a mix of poetry and earthiness, Adrian Bower makes him attractive and sympathetic.

The most magnetic work comes from Adrian Rawlins as Andy’s long-absent father Ian and Anna Calder-Marshall as his eavesdropping grandmother Patricia, a judgmental fusspot who lives to order others around.

Kinnear creates meaty roles. No character is without interest and the dialogue tingles with well-observed idiosyncrasies. This is a vivid and unsentimental portrait of domestic life, flecked with wry humour.

Andy’s disability notwithstanding, the dynamics are far from unusual: these people’s secrets, deceptions and anxieties are uncomfortably familiar. Kinnear’s voice doesn’t yet feel bracingly distinctive, but it is satisfyingly wise.

Until October 26. Tel 020 8743 5050 or go to bushtheatre.co.uk.

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