Be honest, when you hear the name AA Milne, you think of Winnie the Pooh. But the man also wrote more than 20 plays, plus novels and non-fiction.
The Truth About Blayds was first performed in 1921. It’s a comedy about a family who have to face the unsettling revelation their feted patriarch, the poet Blayds, may not be who he claimed to be.
Across three acts (there is an interval after act 1) we hear of Blayds, meet him, then deal with the fallout after his death on the family who were completely in his thrall and reflected glory.
Casting veteran actor William Gaunt (born 1937) as the 90-year-old Blayds adds interest to this fairly small role, and he is excellent in capturing the forgetfulness and the fire of the character (“There are no tomorrows when you’re 90!”).
My biggest praise has to go to Catherine Cusack, as the daughter, Isobel, who gave up personal happiness to nurse her ageing father. At first she is efficient, brittle, but a scene at the close of act 2 is highly charged and absolutely heartbreaking.
Milne’s play has the family dynamics you may expect. Blayds’s daughters Isobel and Marion (a briskly amusing Karen Archer) are chalk and cheese, sensible and silly.
Marion’s husband, William (Oliver Beamish), Blayds’s long-time secretary, is pompous and priggish, while their son, Oliver (George Rowlands), is deeply ambitious but not particularly bright.
The granddaughter, Septima (‘Tim’, Lucy Jamieson) is more of an enigma, keen to spread her wings but loathe to lose the connection with a rich family.
The Truth About Blayds takes place in a richly designed (by Alex Marker) room in a large house. Dominated by a period fireplace and a portrait of Blayds two decades earlier, it feels almost grotesquely formal.
Into this repressed space comes AL Royce (Rupert Wickham), noted critic and emissary from ‘the young writers’ to pay tribute. He is polite, reserved, yet displays a light amusement at his surroundings.
David Gilmore‘s direction utilises the Finborough stage by setting most of the action slightly off-centre: the family at the right; the ‘work’ at the left at an imposing desk.
Actors speak from the sidelines, with the grandchildren often betraying a need to do their own thing, whatever grandfather thinks.
This play is a lovely rediscovery, with a great depth and charm and strong characterisations throughout. It raises questions of morality, creative genius, and the burden of immortality.
4.5 stars.
The Truth About Blayds continues at Finborough Theatre until 4 Oct. Many performances are sold out but look for tickets here.
Photo credit: Carla Joy Evans