Review by Eaven Prenter
⭐️⭐️
The 90s were a dark time in many ways: Turkey Twizzlers were rife in school canteens, Pret a Manger had yet to make it past the M25, and blue eye shadow was in fashion. In Too Many Books, Judi Bevan brings us back to those dark days to highlight something a little more serious, the writer’s experience of adopting a child from China at the time of the One-Child Policy. It’s impossible not to care about a story like this, where all a couple wants is to have a baby. and so many babies need parents, but is that enough to make a good play?
The story centres on Julia and Daniel, a very middle-class English couple who have been trying to have a baby for years. Having suffered through miscarriages and failed IVF, they turn to adoption, only to be told that they are too old to adopt a British baby. When we meet them, they are learning Chinese to prepare to adopt a baby from China, but first they have to convince their social worker, Zaydee to recommend them to a panel.
We know immediately from Hannah Danson’s set what world Julia and Daniel live in. A cleverly deconstructed Hampstead living room with artistic wallpaper, carefully chosen artwork and the titular many books, it speaks volumes about the characters before they even open their mouths. When they enter the scene, John Sackville and Lucy Pickles are extremely convincing as the well-heeled couple in their conscientious approach to the adoption process, polite discomfort at answering intrusive questions about their lifestyle and inability to stop themselves talking down to Zaydee. Meanwhile, Alexandra O’Neill does a lovely job of displaying hostility through a professional smile.
The problem is the pacing. The story is told in a linear, chronological way - first Julia is interviewed, then Daniel, etc., etc.. Add to this a few unnecessary scenes and my attention starts to slip. It’s an understandable structure given that this is Bevan’s first play, but it seems to me that more creative solutions were available, such as playing the interviews side by side.
More jarring are the moments when characters throw out statistics or give extremely informative explanations of the One-Child Policy and the adoption system in the UK. It feels like Bevan’s business journalist past bursting through to make an important point. I can completely appreciate the instinct to do this; it’s a complicated subject about which Bevan is clearly very knowledgeable, but it’s unnatural in the middle of a conversation, and patronising to the audience. One of the great advantages of theatre is that it shows rather than tells and trusts audiences to make up their own mind. Sometimes that means that the audience doesn’t learn every detail about a subject, but that’s not what theatre is for - it’s about ideas and feelings rather than facts and figures.
That being said, there are some very believable moments, including Daniel’s appearance at the appeal hearing. Is there a more convincing barrister than John Sackville? Answers in the comments, but I’ll take a lot of convincing to change my mind. His delivery in this scene is uncanny. Sackville’s Daniel also shows his vulnerable side, particularly in his last-ditch attempt to convince Zaydee to recommend them to the panel, but I wanted to see him change more over the course of the play. Instead, he and Julia seem strangely unaltered by the whole process, approaching their new social worker in much the same way as the previous one.
Their antagonists, O’Neill’s Zaydee and Sue Kelvin as her boss, Cynthia, also don’t have much in the way of character development. I wanted to learn more about their characters, to understand their viewpoint and perhaps see it shift, but apart from learning about one of Zaydee’s previous cases that went wrong, they remain somewhat two dimensional.
All in all, this is a flawed production. Did I learn things? Yes. Was I invested in the story? Absolutely. Can I recommend it? Not quite. It has the kernel of a great play in there - an interesting context, a believable lead couple and a lovely final scene - but there are just too many issues with pacing and character development for Too Many Books to reach its full potential.
Too Many Books plays at Upstairs at the Gatehouse until March 16th
For tickets and information visit https://upstairsatthegatehouse.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173660360/events/428697262
Photos by Alex Brenner