At the edge of the 20th century, the Pennington family’s fractures are laid bare with striking clarity in Adrian Noble’s captivating revival of Andrew Keatley’s The Gathered Leaves.
Ten years after its critically acclaimed premiere at the Park Theatre, Andrew Keatley’s The Gathered Leaves makes a dazzling return to north London. Set design by Dick Bird is captivating as soon as you enter the house with a grand chandelier, crown molding, and the fully fitted-out sitting room of the Pennington family home. Not a detail was too small in this production, and the care and intimacy stretched its way through all aspects of the piece, not just the set design.
Weaving its way through Easter weekend, 1997, the Pennington family is fully reunited for the first time in 17 years for patriarch William’s (Jonathan Hyde) 75th birthday. As is the case with most family dramas, there is a family scandal at the periphery slyly making its way into casual conversation and haunting the awkward silences. An estranged daughter, Alice, coolly played by Olivia Vinall, is set to make her return with her own daughter, Aurelia (Taneetrah Porter), after years abroad. The most compelling relationship, however, is between brothers Samuel (Richard Stirling) and Giles (Chris Larkin), glimpsed with charm in two flashback scenes where their younger selves are harmoniously portrayed by Joe Burrell and Ellis Elijah, perfectly in tune with their elder counterparts. Stirling’s portrayal of Samuel’s autism is done with care and aptitude that allows the authenticity of the character to be felt in all of his interactions, and Larkin’s sensitivity and fortitude as a protective brother is juxtaposed with his fraught relationship with their father.
You can sense the cracks in the foundation of the Pennington house, as the younger generations gain their voices, and the older become less steadfast with William’s recent dementia diagnosis. Grandchildren Emily (Ella Dale) and Simon (George Lorimer), the children of Giles and his icy wife Sophie (Zoe Waites), increasingly push the boundaries of their familial traditions as the weekend progresses, from Simon not shaving for church and arguing about feminism with his mother, to Emily sneaking into the living room with Aurelia in the middle of the night for a nightcap. Porter’s calm and calculated interactions as Aurelia pierce through the underlying tension in several moments throughout, and are especially endearing as she shares the stage with Hyde in a rare moment alone to bond.
Adrian Noble’s expertise and craftsmanship is evident in every inch of this play. The slow, calculated movements of the action, and the ease with which characters exist in this world, allows audiences to fade into the depths of the Pennington family home. The almost 3 hour piece flies by while we see a family grapple with unresolved conflict and newfound bits to quarrel about. While some scenes ended with slightly cliched vignettes, supposedly exposing characters’ inner motivations, the world of the piece never faltered from its naturalistic presence.
The collaboration throughout the whole team is seamless, with unobtrusive sound design by Max Pappenheim and lighting by Paul Pyant. The sound design is subtle with a clock ticking and birds chirping in the main scenes, but then does a lot of heavy lifting through transitions as it grows into an emotional piano foreshadowing, setting the style and tone of the inner life of the piece. Dick Bird, also eases us into the world of 1997 without beating us over the head about it. The simple and accurate costume design allows us to feel as if we’re panning through an old family photo album.
With London theatre-goers often chasing the new and experimental, The Gathered Leaves reminds us of the quiet power of a well-crafted family drama: intimate, tender, and devastatingly familiar.