Review: Quartet In Autumn (Arcola Theatre)

Review by Phil Meikle

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We live in a golden age of communication, yet we increasingly feel as a society that we are sleepwalking into a loneliness epidemic. We are all so keen to project to the world a fulfilled and meaningful life outside of the hum-drum existence of our nine-to-five working lives, that we sometimes forget to be genuinely happy. But is our increasing inability to connect to one another on a truly human level the fault of more isolated living, or do those social fractures predate the modern age? 

In its first adaptation from novel to stage, Quartet in Autumn, a Booker Prize-nominated novel by Barbara Pym, is here to remind us that work-life balance was never really, well, balanced, and the need for some to hide their loneliness through personal facades long pre-dates our digital age. In addition, there is currently an increasingly false narrative that retirement offers mortgage-free living in multi-room properties with overflowing savings. But in her adaptation of Pym’s 1977 novel, and her first foray into playwriting, Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey is here to myth-bust and remind us that, as soon-to-be-retired office worker Letty regretfully reflects, “a whole life can be spent just waiting for something to happen”. 

This is how we meet our quartet of office-based middle to older-age colleagues, sat in a merry-go-round-like pod of drab 1970s desks, reminiscent of the TV show Severance. Unlike the clinical white office walls of Lumon Industries, Ellie Wintour casts a vibrant red that envelopes both the ground beneath them, while also riding up part of the wall at the back of the stage and across the filing cabinets, offering stark contrast to the mundanity of its occupants and their brown wooden 70s furniture. Their central quadrant of desks is slightly sunken into the central diamond stage, making them stagnant, stuck.

However, director Dominic Dromgoole makes sure the cast make full use of the space, giving each character time away from their desk for Shakespearean-like soliloquy moments, where they share diary-like revelations directly with the audience as they move around the outline of the set. In addition, Ella Wahlstrom gives a nice nod to the quartet theme with her classical string accompaniments for the low-key scene changes.    

The quartet shares with each other small snippets of their lives outside the office, either embellished, seeking approval or left deliberately mysterious. Samantha Harvey instils our quartet’s tales of home life with sharp, caustic humour, as they reflect on the mundanity of everyday life and social status, commenting on everything from everyday menial tasks to ageing and oncoming death. Like all accomplished dark comedies, the sad truth of their lives bleeds through, much like their burgundy surroundings. Many lines are laugh-out-loud witticisms delivered dryly by characters seemingly unaware of how much they do perhaps have in common with each other, if only they let their whimsical or defensive masks slip long enough to recognise it. There are even hints of missed romantic opportunities between them, further echoing the longing for companionship. The gossipy exchanges show a hollowness in these vulnerable folk, desperately yearning for tales of romance and intrigue, or to defend their own quaint ways. 

While the characters are well-worn archetypes of old souls, these four accomplished stage veterans bring them to life with so much humour and tenderness. Anthony Calf gives a warmth and innocence to Edwin, a devout Christian who in his keenness to be widely liked, can sometimes trip into clumsy and overbearing behaviour. His choral singing brings an added haunting sadness to the setting. Kate Duchene as Letty brings a Betty White-like charm to the innocence and naivety of the ever-optimistic Letty, who contemplates impending retirement, while living still in a shared house with an uncertain future. She lives precariously through her unseen friend’s romances. It is her own surprise that you can still find love in your 50s that is both incredibly endearing but also heartbreaking. Paul Rider, as Norman, is given perhaps the funniest quips, which he delivers with a glass half empty approach to all situations. Breakfast taken while wearing a silk dressing gown is his own idea of supposed happiness. Furthermore, in her dual role as set and costume designer, Ellie Wintour’s vintage costumes are nicely defined and remind us that in the 1970s, a 60-year-old was actually considered ‘old’, and their clothes would reflect that as if society prematurely aged everyone.  

In a quartet of very strong performances, it feels slightly unfair to single one out for praise above the rest, but Pooky Quesnel’s performance as Marcia, a tightly wound spinster who hoards tinned food, though barely allows herself to eat, has the most rounded character development and gives a standout performance of depth and despair. As Marcia slowly unravels in the second act of the play, her yearning for the life just out of her reach, represented here by a red doll’s house on a raised level, is simple but devastating. Her description of having “a perfect body never worn” is perhaps the most devastating line, as she finally shows the vulnerable side linking the four colleagues, near friends. 

Quartet in Autumn reminds us that we can all feel prone to isolation even when surrounded by other people, and we really should never judge a book by its cover - the pages inside often hold a much darker, sometimes comic tale of life. As the Arcola’s spring season continues, the summer ahead looks bright for this Quartet in Autumn. 

Quartet In Autumn plays at the Arcola Theatre until 13th June. Tickets from https://allthatdazzles.londontheatredirect.com/play/quartet-in-autumn-tickets

Photos by Manuel Harlan