The Human Body - Donmar Warehouse

Running time is back up on the Donmar site - 2h45m, including a 20 min interval.

Reviews seem to be mainly three stars, with praise for the leads but not so much for the play itself.

Saw this tonight and it's a very odd play that doesn't really add up to more than the sum of its parts, although it's parts are quite enjoyable regardless.

Some spoilers follow. . .

At one point, Keeley Hawes's Iris says that her love affair with Jack Davenport's George is the only "technicolor" part of her life. But this contrary production is determined to turn her love affair into the very black and white "Brief Encounter," which seems most odd.

It's especially odd since "Brief Encounter" can't be bettered as a black and white movie about a stiff-upper-lipped desperate period love affair, so the movie that's broadcast on the wall behind the actors is either a mere pastiche of "Brief Encounter" or it is a commentary that Iris's love affair is not "technicolor" at all.

In any event, Emma Rice, in her eternal optimism about the human condition, already made what amounts to a cheery "technicolor" play version of "Brief Encounter," and that was more fun than this.

But this isn't meant to be fun, anyway, as it's essentially a "woman trapped" kind of play, so the spiraling stage was one of my favourite parts of the production, which, coupled with the Bernard Herrmann type music, and boosted by Keeley Hawes's clench-teethed performance, made the production as much a doomladen version of Hitchcock's "Vertigo" as it was of Lean's "Brief Encounter." This worked doubly well, thematically, but also as a democratic method of giving those at the sides a good view of the actors.

Unfortunately, the production is neither as romantic as "Brief Encounter," nor as thrilling as "Vertigo," so it never really finds it's emotional thrust.

There was one ray of technicolor sunshine in the production tonight, and it was Flora Jacoby Richardson as Hawes's Iris's daughter, constantly rabbitting on enthusiastically about Princess Elizabeth's dresses, which, unlike the NHS, will never be available to ordinary people. This was constantly funny to me, as her passion for the dresses exceeded anyone's passion for the NHS, and if the point of her character was to suggest we shouldn't be gawking at royalty, this deeply failed, as the cheery kid's enthusiasm (she even gave Hawes the most joyous "thumbs up" after the bows lol) was way too infectious, especially when compared to the dourness of everybody else. Odd.

Even Bevan (not depicted) came across badly, described as using dehumanising Trumpian language, even if his accomplishments are the very best of Britain. Again, odd.

As far as Keeley Hawes's plays go, I preferred "Rocket to the Moon" to this, and preferred this to "Barking in Essex," but despite the fact she's never been in a truly brilliant production, she herself was terrific in all three of these, serving each play with exactly the notes asked of her, so I fully expect one day she'll hit the jackpot with a truly great play.

Of the supporting ensemble, I thought Siobhan Redmond magnificently morphed into a whole range of quirky characters.

For me, this weird portrait of a woman and an NHS going round in circles gets 3 and a half stars for it's intriguing but never-melding parts.

PS: This finished at 10:15pm on the dot, and I was out by 10:18pm.

I saw this last night and have to agree with much of what others have said. There's just a little bit too much going on in terms of the multiple characters, video scenes and never ending revolve for us to really focus at times on the nuances and depth beneath the surface. The scene which I thought was the best in the play was the longer beach scene at the top of Act 2, which didn't feel quite so rushed and allowed the characters to breathe a little.

Still, it wasn't dull at all and the staging is so dynamic that it didn't feel overlong (we were out at 10.10pm). I really liked the overall blue aesthetic of the set and props by Fly Davis, and I thought the acting was universally excellent. I must admit to being thrilled to finally see Keeley Hawes on stage, being a fully paid up member of the DI Lindsay Denton fan club (Line of Duty). And This Life means a lot to me as a show so I was very pleased to see Jack Davenport also. I liked the chemistry between them.

I've returned two front row circle tickets for this Thursday evening.

Life's too short to sit through 3 hours of a 3-star play, even for Keeley Hawes!

This is an unbelievably frustrating piece.

It's two plays at the same time, one of which is diabolical and the other which has promise but isn't able to develop far enough.
The NHS play is actually appalling, but the Brief Encounter play has potential.

Any sort of enjoyment is saved by Keeley Hawes and Jack Davenport, who are both excellent with the horrible play they've been given.
Pearl Mackie good as ever, and Tom Goodman-Hill perfectly watchable.
Could not get over how awful Siobhan Redmond was though - was no one else free?

The two minutes episodic scenes are tedious after half an hour. It could easily lose ANOTHER 45 minutes and be better for it.

It's JUST 3 stars because of it's leads and how charismatic they are. But with anyone else this play is 2 stars - I think they only let it be staged in the form it's in because of who the author is personally.
I understood what Lucy Kirkwood was trying to do about 20 minutes from the end, but by that point I was so annoyed with it that I simply didn't care.

I was also meant to go this evening. I think the matinee was also stopped when the cast member became ill. It’s a shame as I don’t think it will be easy to get a ticket now and it’s the one time I was organised and booked when they first went on sale in December.

Due to watch this tonight, hope its all resolved!

She's excellent, as is Jack Davenport, but definitely not missing a good play if it is cancelled.

I have a ticket for this on the noticeboard for next Saturday if anyone is interested.

Saw this tonight and liked it but didn't love it. TBH I booked solely to see Keeley Hawes and she's worth the price of admission as as is Jack Davenport. The rest of the cast Tom Goodman-Hill, Siobhan Redmond and Pearl Mackie are good as well playing various characters.

I agree that it's two plays merged into one and TBH the birth of the NHS storyline could have been dropped and instead focus more the Brief Encounter type affair and it would have been a stronger play.