In assembling a group of women with very different personalities in an unfamiliar place (here, a woody clearing in South Wales), Sarah Rickman’s play Kindling has some familiarity with Tim Firth’s Sheila’s Island (his counterpart to the better-known Neville’s Island).
Here, in Kindling, Mae has died, leaving behind her urn and five friends who have never previously met. Sue, Jasmin, Cathy, Rose and Jules offer different insights into who Mae might have been. They are also all around the age of menopause, that odd age when youth and fertility finally closes the door.
At first they are not that friendly, trying to make the best of getting lost as it is going dark, and questioning each other to find out how each knew Mae. It’s both one-upmanship and bonding.
With booze, music, rain, revelations, misunderstandings, and an unfortunate accident, Kindling is funny, sharp and at times, emotional. There’s a certain predictability in some of its plot devices and turns, but the acting is good especially from Ciara Pouncett as the sarcastic Sue and Rickman herself as scatty Rose.
It’s a very middle-class play, with good wine, spa retreats, earth mothers, lesbian partnerships, and secrets all blended into this one night. The amusing moments – mainly at the expense of Rendah Beshoori’s immaculate Jasmin – are farcical but not unbelievable.
Each of these women – Scarlett Alice Johnson’s Cathy with her cakes and meditation, Stacy Abalogun’s righteous Jules – are recognisable types we have all met. That they find some common ground other than drinking tequila and pitching a tent is no surprise.
Kindling isn’t an overly dramatic play. It offers little conflict and instead crafts character studies of women whose choices to have children (or not), or how they feel (foggy brain, hot flushes) flash into the foreground.
Abi Groves has assembled a stunning set of backdrop, logs, and a floor covered with leaves to welcome us into the wood in which the women find themselves.
Director Emma Gersch has blocked the action well and allowed several bits of business extraneous to the dialogue to be carried out. Wherever you sit on any of the three sides you’ll catch some of the action.
As a woman of the right age for this, when your body creaks and you start reading your friends’ funeral notices, I did appreciate the idea of Kindling even if it did feel very familiar at times.
I enjoyed watching it, but it might not be a play for long-term reflection. It is also the second play I have seen this year to mention birdwatching and the bittern. That’s theatre, folks!
I’m giving this 3 stars.
Kindling continues at Park Theatre until 15 Nov with tickets here.
Productiin image ctedit: Holly Darville