Sisters – UNCOMMON THEATRE / The Jack Studio Theatre, London
Sisters is a rare revival of a play by David Storey, as a reunion of two sisters reveals much beneath the surface.
Sisters
Have you ever asked yourself what A Streetcar Named Desire would be like if it were set not in New Orleans but, say, Wakefield? If so, I have good news for you. The Jack Studio Theatre is currently hosting an UNCOMMON THEATRE revival of David Storey’s Sisters, which answers just that question. I saw A Streetcar Named Desire recently (and wrote about it flippantly here). So I still had the details fresh in my mind. Perhaps that’s why the parallels seemed to me to be so stark. Or perhaps there’s enough universality to manners vs. instinct, fantasy vs. reality, contrasting sisters and brutish husbands to create these stories with different settings but undeniable connections. This is a rare revival, and as such there isn’t enough written about the play for me to find out whether the similarities are intentional.
David Storey, known as the “Chekov of the North,” was born in Wakefield in 1933. Torn between a professional sporting career and a place at the Slade School, he chose the arts. He didn’t become a painter in the end, though, but a novelist and a playwright. His work was in the tradition of the post-war ‘kitchen sink’ dramatists such as John Osborne. In Storey’s case he was able to draw on his working class upbringing as a coal miner’s son. He won various awards including the Booker Prize, and had one novel adapted into a film in 1963. Sisters was a mid-career play, debuting in 1978. Storey died in 2017.
Sisters draws firmly on this urge to tell the stories of ordinary people. Or working class people, in any case. The titular sisters are Adrienne (Joanne Arber) and Carol (Laura Kaye). Adrienne’s arrival after a long absence is a chance for both reconnection and recrimination. That her arrival is a day earlier than planned drives the action, as it exposes her to unusual goings-on in the home of her sister and husband Tom (Christopher Tomkins). Just who are Beryl (Catherine Joyce), Joanne (Madelyn Morgan), Terry (Oliver Lyndon), Cracker (Stephen Guy), and why do they all feel so at home here? The final addition to the cast is neighbour Mrs Donaldson, or Maur (Sarah Dorsett), who fusses and cleans and serves in return for recognition (if not the love she craves).
A Good, Solid, Living-Room Drama
Sisters isn’t quite literally a kitchen-sink drama, but it is very solidly set in Carol and Tom’s living room. There’s something I like about the dramas of this period and the way the action is contained in one place. It allows for grounded, believable sets for one. Molly Agar’s in this instance immediately speaks to the period and the working class setting. I found the sound design (Niamh Evans) a little less naturalistic, but Justin Wu’s lighting worked well, I thought.
Elizabeth Elstub is both Producer and Director. As Director she keeps up a good energy, and encourages naturalistic interactions between the characters. Sisters runs at 2 hours 20 minutes including an interval, so needs the tension punctuated by moments of relief. Elstub balances this well, and allows each character’s personality to develop. This is helped by the fact that there are some great performances amongst the cast, and a sense of each character having their own internal motivation. Where Tom and Cracker demand respect through force, Terry’s is a more introverted character. The sisters, meanwhile, have responded to their parents’ shortcomings in very different ways: one through escapism, and one tackling reality head on. This tension between fantasy and reality comes to a head as the true reason for Adrienne’s arrival are revealed.
Sisters is an interesting choice for a revival. UNCOMMON THEATRE aims to create opportunities for working class actors, writers and creatives, and this is their launch production. I hope future productions will leverage new writing, but in the meantime this is a good opportunity for the cast to sink their teeth into working class characters, settings and stories. The play is very much of its time, but not too dated (a bit of unnecessary fat phobia would be about all I would highlight). I came away feeling like I’d had a proper evening at the theatre, got to know the “Chekov of the North”, and knew definitively what impact shifting the themes of A Streetcar Named Desire from sultry New Orleans to the industrial North would have. All in all not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.
Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3.5/5
Sisters on until 26 April 2025. More info and tickets here.
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