REVIEW: THE COMEUPPANCE, The Almeida Theatre
As five characters reunite on a front porch ahead of their 20th anniversary high school reunion, a faceless sixth character haunts the stage while the group mourn the decisions of their respective youth in the UK Premiere of The Comeuppance, written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Eric Ting and while the play succeeds greatly in its worldbuilding and commanding the atmosphere of the auditorium and building tension, it struggles to land a satisfying ending that utilises the plays potential.
Brendan Jacobs-Jenkins’ script is often understatedly bold; as, although we remain in one location for its two-hour runtime, he effortlessly keeps the stage and material fresh, always finding ways of giving us the right combination of personalities to drive momentum forwards. Without things ever feeling ‘forced’ we are taken through a truly wide breadth of American political talking points, with each explored in depth and none taking priority over the character driven nature of the story. Each character feels real and genuine, and their actions, and sometimes more importantly, reactions always come across as honest and natural. It’s a shame then, that it is within the twist of the play that its dramatic structure feels slightly lost.
Throughout the naturalistic performance are sudden freeze-frames, where one of the actors will address the audience not as their character, but as ‘Death’, proclaiming that they are “here for work” and leading the audience to believe that one of the characters won’t quite make it to the anticipated high school reunion. As well as offering a unique and contemporary perspective on characterising the concept of death, the scenes do an absolutely brilliant job of raising the stakes and creating tension, but this eerie atmosphere is then wasted on an anti-climax that seems a little unsure of itself. Not quite landing with an audience who, through the tools used through the play (namely the use of illusions from Skylar Fox and Will Houstoun) were anticipating something larger and more dramatic. Of course, a simple ending isn’t always a bad thing, but we feel the play’s masterful build of tension deserved a bigger pay off than what we were served.
Director Eric Ting has done wonderfully in bringing this text to life though, what is good in the script is made all the better for the show’s direction and helped in turn by the cast’s entertaining ensemble performance, with each of its members just as solid as the last’s. Arnulfo Maldonado’s black void of a backdrop allows his front porch to become the true focal point pf the show and Emma Laxton’s sound design adds a brilliantly creepy and unsettling edge to Death’s presence in the piece. Overall, the play is solid as a piece of theatre, yet its lack of a truly satisfying conclusion prevents it from standing out above the rest and making as big a mark that it perhaps could have.
*** - Three Stars
Written by Matthew Foster