Still Life With Onions – Barons Court Theatre, London

Rob Burbidge’s Barons Court Theatre debut is Still Life With Onions, a story of human connection against the odds directed by Amalia Kontesi.

Still Life With Onions

On a particularly dreary London winter’s day it seemed appropriate to head to the Barons Court Theatre to see Still Life With Onions, a play centred on people picking up the pieces in wintery post-war London.  Incidentally the theatre’s basement arches are a good stand in for Johnsy’s (Olivia Steele) tenement flat. 

This poky single room is where all the action in Rob Burbidge’s play takes place.  We open on a scene in which the chaos of tenement life is evident: neighbour Behrman (Christopher Kouros) shouts about the noise of the wireless while Johnsy desperately tries to draw something she can sell to keep her going.  Neighbour Sue (Naomi Bowman) then blags her way in for some water and stays first for stew and then for art lessons and eventually for friendship.  We learn more about Johnsy’s day and how she ended up in the river when Soldier David (Kieran Dobson) shows up, and eventually the group, with Johnsy as the nucleus, work out some of the unspoken facts and truths between them.

Make Do And Mend

This is theatre on a Make Do And Mend budget, and while I commend the ingenuity, there are some areas for further development.  The set, costumes and props are simple: they do the job but are not always convincingly period.  The dialogue sometimes veers further into melodrama than I would like.  But the action builds toward a key moment between Behrman and Sue which is the emotional heart of the play, nicely acted, and insightful.  In this time of deep divisions it’s not a bad thing to be reminded to look past categorisations and see the person underneath.

The run at the Barons Court Theatre is a short one, and ultimately Still Life With Onions gives a sense of a work in progress that will benefit from this outing in further refining itself.  The initial scenes are a little slow, and could do with either a good dramaturg or some snappier direction.  The performances were mostly good but – I felt – showed the nerves of press night also being opening night.  However, as I say, there are some key scenes which are memorable for both writing and acting so there is something there to draw out.  

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5

Still Life With Onions on until 16 March 2024