By the time Jez Butterworth’s The River opened in the intimate surroundings of the Royal Court’s upstairs studio space in 2012, Jerusalem, his previous play for the same theatre, had earned itself two West End runs and a Broadway transfer and was being heralded as the best thing theatre had seen this century.
Butterworth seemed to deliberately swing in the opposite direction with The River: this is no sprawling three-hour, two-interval, large ensemble piece with state-of-the-nation ambitions. Instead, we have an 80-minute, interval-free study of three characters, now newly revised by Butterworth for its revival. It’s an intriguing play and one that is interesting to see in the context of Butterworth’s subsequent work with The Ferryman and The Hills of California both aiming for Jerusalem proportions – the latter of which is currently playing on Broadway.
The Man (Paul McGann) has taken his new girlfriend, The Woman (Amanda Ryan) to his cabin where he plans to fish for sea trout on a moonless night, an event that only happens once a year, convincing the reluctant Woman to join him. When they return to the cabin, it is The Other Woman (Kerri McLean) who is with him: the story continues as if nothing has changed. From there, the play is as slippery as the trout Paul McGann guts on stage.
You get the sense that the play was an exercise for Butterworth – a way to try out new things in the safe confines of a low-capacity studio theatre. It may explain why it has taken so long for the first London revival of the production to happen. But here, in the larger Greenwich Theatre, it still has an intimacy under James Haddrell’s direction even with Emily Bestow’s wonderfully designed cabin suggesting the openness of the great outdoors.
The characters feel pinned down in this place, under the microscope. There are lengthy literary-tinged passages where characters recount recent events to each other in detail as if the other had not been there and the matter-of-fact delivery of these moments gives an otherworldly feeling to proceedings.
McGann provides a deft performance as the Man who, following his early infectious enthusiasm for trout and his partner, increasingly seems isolated, cut off and alone as the divide between him and the women increases as he struggles to be open with them. McLean and Ryan provide contrasting images of two women who, despite their differences, come to the same conclusion.
Oddly, this revival includes a new framing device not included in the original Royal Court production. Presumably part of Butterworth’s revisions for the run, it provides a strange beat in the play’s dying moments as it attempts to provide an answer to, or perhaps justify, the play’s events. It’s an unsatisfying endnote to an otherwise entrancing play.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (Very Good)
