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In April De Angelis’s new black comedy, octogenarian Virgie is determined to set her own date with the Grim Reaper. The eccentric, intelligent and coherent 84-year-old has stacked up a fair few years behind her, and wants to pop off now ‘before it gets any worse’.
But choosing her own path to death turns out to be trickier than she had imagined. She announces her decision in a wonderfully matter-of-fact manner early in ‘Before Electra’. Bringing together her closest friends and family for her birthday, she unveils her grand plan of killing herself the next day, much to the horror of those present. From then on, it’s Virgie against the world.
De Angelis’s script is often scorchingly funny, as she gleefully chucks a bounty of familial insecurities into one big melting pot of mess. It’s Virgie at the centre that makes the piece refreshing. She is unapologetic for her life’s mistakes – she lived her life – but her repressed, angry 58-year-old daughter Haydn provides the drama: she is collateral damage for her mother’s selfishness.
Samuel West’s pacey production delivers some great performances, not least Marty Cruickshank’s excellent Virgie who is shockingly unmaternal, and has both a marvellously light energy and a satisfyingly sharp tongue. It’s the changes in tone with the piece that don’t quite work – the first half is mostly fairly frothy comedy, whereas the second half swerves clunkily into darker territory.
But there’s a strong supporting cast, especially Virgie’s vain actor-friend Tom (Neil McCaul) and Rachel Bell’s deep-voiced ex-headmistress (Virgie’s sister), who provide most of the play’s belly laughs. Michael Taylor’s set, the front room of Virgie’s seaside cottage, is convincingly boho, covered in abstract bright paintings and, like the main character, losing its vividness as the play progresses.
Though death looms over ‘After Electra’, this isn’t a play about endings. It’s a complex, flawed look at families, how painful they can be, and how vital they are, in whatever shape or form.