What If Only.

TWENTY fours on I am still racking my brains as to the reason or reasons behind Mrs Jarrett’s obsession with a dystopian world in Caryl Churchill’s play, Escaped Alone.

Her vision of gloom and hopelessness and inhumanity was, to put it mildly, the stuff of nightmares, and then some.

Maybe Churchill wanted her rantings an antidote to the refined and stereotypically English setting, as a group if friends sit in a sun lit back garden in suburbia somewhere, drinking tea and sharing their views on life and other things.

The setting made me feel like I was watching a sitcom - of sorts. Mrs Jarett, on the other hand, reminded me of the stereotypical mad woman.

But a far more disturbing revelation comes courtesy of one of the play’s other protagonists and the suspicious death of her husband.

Performances under Sarah Frankom’s direction are natural, unforced and authentic, giving the audience the feeling we’re sharing a sun kissed afternoon with Vi, Mrs Jarrett, Lena and Sally, with Annette Badland, Maureen Beattie, Souad Farress and Margot Leicester bringing their respective characters so engagingly and believably to life.

While I’m not the sort of reviewer who likes to be spoon fed information about characters in plays I left the RET feeling I had more questions than answers.

What If Only, which formed part two of the Churchill double bill, is just plain bizarre. A character called Someone struggles to find answers as she tries to live with all consuming grief.

The play gets off to a moving start with Someone, so well acted by Danielle Henry, rants at an empty chair in a bomb site of a living room, seeking answers to reasons behind her loss.

Henry is terrific is terrific and in a strong Manchester accent gives the second best performance of the evening, with Maureen Beattie winning first prize as the menacing Mrs Jarett in Escaped Alone.

Then What If Only becomes obsessed with a recurrent theme, the theme of futures and the futures Someone craves in a life tainted by grief she just can’t escape.

When it comes to the work of Caryl Churchill I count myself as one of the unconverted even if she uses dialogue to paint some deeply arresting images.

But there’s no getting away from the quality of the acting here which is without doubt first rate.

That’s especially so in Escaped Alone the actresses sounding like real friends.

Until March 8. Tickets are available from 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Star rating - 2.5 out of 5.

Photo by Johan Persson