Review: The Hothouse at Trafalgar Studios

The Hothouse
Trafalgar Studios
Reviewed on Friday 10th May 2013

Following a sold out run of Macbeth, The Hothouse marks the second production of Jamie Lloyd's Trafalgar Transformed season at Trafalgar Studios. Harold Pinter's play, which was written in the Fifties, is a political black comedy set in a mental institution - a little different from Lloyd's gruesome production of Macbeth. I am unsure whether The Hothouse takes a while to get going or whether it just took me a while to get used to the weird but wonderful quirkiness of the piece.

The action takes place on Christmas Day in a mental institution where the inmates are subjected to "a tirade of mindless cruelty". The cast are astoundingly brilliant, led by Simon Russell Beale who has the most expressive eyes I have ever seen in my life. His enormous portrayal of Roote, the self-obsessed leader of the institution is hard to fault.

John Simm and Indira Varma also give strong performances but Harry Melling (who played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films) particularly stands out for his portrayal of Lamb, one of the patients in the institution. His portrayal of Lamb's eagerness and vulnerability is both raw and quite touching. 

Soutra Gilmour's design makes the production extremely intriguing and while there are few set changes the production is visually interesting throughout. There is a certain eeriness about The Hothouse which adds an exciting element of mystery to proceedings.

Ben and Max Ringham's sound design is very atmospheric. Short bursts of music are played between scenes while various pieces of scenery fly in and out. These changes are conducted so quickly which makes the production feel swift and smooth.

Faults of The Hothouse lie within the play itself and not Jamie Lloyd's stunning production which I find hard to criticise. In places I was not fond of the writing and I wish more had been made of certain characters, I wanted more layers to be unravelled of the relationship between Gibbs and Miss Cutts.

One may presume that an old political comedy would be lengthy, but I was impressed with the show's speedy running time. I was shocked when the lights came up for the interval, as was the entire audience who remained silently seated for a short time. 

The juxtaposition between rapid monologues and moments of silence is extrememly powerful and a little haunting. The Houthouse gets funnier as the play progresses and as the characters become more familiar. During the second act the action becomes increasingly more ridiculous to the point where I was left open mouthed and in hysterics.

If you want to see something a little weird and wacky, I would highly recommend The Hothouse.

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)
andrew@westendframe.com

The Hothouse runs at Trafalgar Studios until 3rd August 2013. Click here to book tickets.

Photo Credit: Johan Persson

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