Quentin Letts

AFTER an overlong opening in the hotel bedroom, things pick up as the creaky plot moves to Boss Finley’s mansion and later the hotel bar. There is finally some life amid the glumness. Quite where Williams’s self-pitying pessimism takes us, mind you, I could not tell you.

This is a good-looking production, but new artistic director Daniel Evans has yet to get the hang of Chichester’s audience.

THE title of the Royal Court’s latest offering, Anatomy Of A Suicide, should give theatregoers warning that Alice Birch’s play covers upsetting ground.

Do suicidal tendencies run in families? If your grandmother and your mother have killed themselves, should you yourself risk having children?

Katie Mitchell’s direction and Birch’s writing reach high standards of professionalism. It may seem an odd word given the subject matter, but this is a notably slick production.

The play is set in three decades: the early Seventies, late Nineties and 2030s. We see them represented on stage simultaneously throughout.

Hattie Morahan plays selfharming Carol. Carol’s daughter Anna (Kate O’Flynn) is also prey to depression, particularly after giving birth to a daughter, Bonnie. By the time Bonnie grows up, she fears she may have the same suicidal tendencies. Lines chop and change from era to era, almost from word to word. You need to keep your wits about you. Much as one can admire Ms Birch’s ingenious structure, it brings disadvantages: the pace is so quick you may yearn for deeper analysis of the women’s individual stories and characters.

As in any Katie Mitchell show, there is ambient noise (would silence not sometimes be more apt?) and stunts such as flickering fluorescent lights and on-stage wardrobe changes.

Though it is hard to imagine anyone actually enjoying this show, it will be admired for its assured production. But anyone who has been exposed to suicide or mental illness may find its plot terribly raw.