“Why would I need to hurt myself?”
The scabrous humour of Bruce Norris’ last play Clybourne Park was a huge
success seeing a West End transfer from the Royal Court and a clean sweep of
drama awards on both sides of the Atlantic. He returns to the Royal Court very
soon with The Low Road but the Gate Theatre has mounted a revival of his 2002
play Purple Heart. Set in an anonymous Midwestern city, a family struggles to
rebuild their lives after the death of Gene, a soldier in the Vietnam War, the
impact of such a terrible loss affecting his mother, his wife and his son in
different ways.
Norris dissects the complexity of grief on the different members of this family
with his customary excoriating insight, challenging what society deems to be
the correct emotional responses with the unconventional Carla. Rejecting the
conventional tropes of mourning, the generic platitudes and proffered casseroles
from oppressively well-meaning neighbours, she lounges in her dressing gown,
swigging as much booze as she can. But there’s little escape at home – her son
Thor is acting out on his increasingly violent imagination and mother-in-law
Grace is relentless with her forced good cheer barely masking a concern or
propriety. It is takes the arrival of a stranger at the door, a veteran with
his own agenda and a box of doughnuts, to really shake up the broken dynamic of
this family.
The play was written during the build-up to the war in Iraq and it is tempting
to see the anger of lessons unlearnt here, but what it is clear is the way in
which Norris utilises the sharpest humour in his cracking dialogue as he
brutally pummels his characters. It is almost too much in the case of Carla,
Amelia Lowdell is strong in portraying the conflicted mix of swirling emotion
but it’s so abrasive, so stinging, that the balance doesn’t quite feel right.
Linda Broughton’s insistent Grace becomes more sympathetic despite her endless
nagging and there’s a neat sense of obliqueness about Oliver Coopersmith’s
Thor, quite how much of this dysfunction has been internalised is never
apparent, the legacy of the future left somewhat in question.
Christopher Haydon’s production streaks along with an unflagging energy (though
the interval doesn’t seem strictly necessary), the pitch-perfect period detailing
of Simon Kenny’s 70s living room set providing the claustrophobic arena for the
interplay and as the mysterious Purdy, Trevor White has a wonderfully enigmatic
creepiness that maintains an ambivalence throughout the show. Such is the
strength of the earlier scenes and the formative dialogue that by the time that
the denouement comes crashing down, it almost feels a little contrived, an
unnecessary insertion of drama into something that is surprisingly subtle in
the way it tackles how we confront, or otherwise, losses almost too difficult
to comprehend.
Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes (with interval)
Playtext cost: £4
Booking until 6th April
Labels: Amelia Lowdell, Bruce Norris, Gate Theatre, Linda Broughton, Oliver Coopersmith, Trevor White