February 27, 2013
First performed 101 years ago, Rutherford & Sons received universally rave reviews in London and New York and its playwright, KG Sowerby, gained notoriety because of her gender. Her subject matter, that of a ruthless northern industrialist who alienates his three children whilst spending his time building up the family firm for their inheritance, came from her own experience as a granddaughter of a Tyneside factory owner and clearly fascinated the audiences who went to see it in 1912.
However, why Northern Broadsides have chosen to stage it in 2013 and what lens of modern sensibility the renowned director Jonathan Miller wanted us to view through now is not clear. A hundred years later we have sat through many a tale of domineering fathers and bullied adult children, and, unfortunately for some of the speeches that have to be delivered with a straight face, too many ‘grim up North’ satires to be able to keep from laughing. At times dramatic tension veered into melodrama. Perhaps Sowerby was too close to the story she wanted to tell to lift the play from the two dimensional and portray fully rounded characters.
Sowerby did create two strong female characters, daughter Janet and daughter-in-law Mary, who are by far the most interesting in her play, and perhaps a reflection of her own independence having earned a living as a children’s author and having the confidence to write a play for the West End Theatre at a time when she would have had few role models. One of the challenges of the piece, or perhaps of the production, is that there is no character that the audience could warm to or fully sympathise with. Barrie Rutter very effectively dominates the stage as the father, and Sara Poyzer (Janet) and Catherine Kinsella (Mary) both gave full vent to the emotional journey of their characters but by the curtain call we simply didn’t care enough about anybody to imagine what might happen next.
There are some practical challenges to staging a play set prior to the widespread use of electric light, and when set in December on a gloomy moorland, although one can appreciate the subtleties of the lighting design in capturing candle light, some of the more nuanced reactions in ensemble pieces were simply lost. The gloom on stage did match the mood of the play; this is not a cheery piece and its writing lacks light and shade.
However, why Northern Broadsides have chosen to stage it in 2013 and what lens of modern sensibility the renowned director Jonathan Miller wanted us to view through now is not clear. A hundred years later we have sat through many a tale of domineering fathers and bullied adult children, and, unfortunately for some of the speeches that have to be delivered with a straight face, too many ‘grim up North’ satires to be able to keep from laughing. At times dramatic tension veered into melodrama. Perhaps Sowerby was too close to the story she wanted to tell to lift the play from the two dimensional and portray fully rounded characters.
Sowerby did create two strong female characters, daughter Janet and daughter-in-law Mary, who are by far the most interesting in her play, and perhaps a reflection of her own independence having earned a living as a children’s author and having the confidence to write a play for the West End Theatre at a time when she would have had few role models. One of the challenges of the piece, or perhaps of the production, is that there is no character that the audience could warm to or fully sympathise with. Barrie Rutter very effectively dominates the stage as the father, and Sara Poyzer (Janet) and Catherine Kinsella (Mary) both gave full vent to the emotional journey of their characters but by the curtain call we simply didn’t care enough about anybody to imagine what might happen next.
There are some practical challenges to staging a play set prior to the widespread use of electric light, and when set in December on a gloomy moorland, although one can appreciate the subtleties of the lighting design in capturing candle light, some of the more nuanced reactions in ensemble pieces were simply lost. The gloom on stage did match the mood of the play; this is not a cheery piece and its writing lacks light and shade.