Review: MARYS SEACOLE - Donmar Warehouse
Credit - Marc Brenner
Marys Seacole is currently showing at the Donmar Warehouse, a fitting venue for this confronting play exploring not just "the most impressive woman you've ever met" but the wider issue of racial inequality in care and medicine and what it means to be a woman paid to care in general.
The performances of this piece are amazing. Especially from Kayla Meikle who plays Mary, practically never leaving the stage. She has been perfectly cast; even her resting face on stage gives the impression that she has seen and dealt with far much more than anyone around her. She speaks with the experience of thousands of years and the weight of her work is evident. In all of her interactions, there is an excellent balance of both intense care and complete indifference that comes with building up walls in the industry her characters work in.
It is within the show itself and the material where there are a few issues with the piece. While it is clearly trying to make crucial points about women in medicine, and racial inequality, we feel that it takes on almost too much. With scenes happening, often simultaneously, in two separate timelines, the blurred nature of the context means it is somewhat difficult to follow at times. And this gets somewhat inaccessible in the climax of the piece when a confusing mass of previous lines and gory props create a mess that loses the point they are trying to get across. And, indeed loses Mary Seacole as a character we had been invested in.
We feel that a production more focused on her and her work would have been wonderful as her story has enough weight as it is. The many layers of satire that were, at times poingant and comedic, made it difficult to properly invest in characters that were clearly well acted and important. It is important when making statements such as the ones this production was trying to make with drama, that those statements are accessible to everyone in the audience, in order for them to have their rightful impact. We feel this unfortunately just wasn't the case with Marys Seacole.
That being said, the production is good. The set design by Tom Scutt is able to bring to light both time periods accurately with use of recognisable medical equipment in intriguing ways. The sound design compliments the action incredibly well, and although confusing, the transitions between timelines happen so smoothly, you can’t tell what is happening until it is halfway done.
While this production has moments of brilliance and excellent performances, we feel it takes on far much more than it needs to to make its point, losing itself along the way.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Callum Wallace
