Parlour Song at Greenwich Theatre Review
Photo by Danny With A Camera
Written by Penny for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song premiered in New York in 2008, with a European premiere in London in March 2009. This run at Greenwich Theatre marks the play’s first major London revival. The theatre also staged another of Butterworth’s earlier works, The River, last year.
Butterworth’s breakthrough play, Jerusalem, has been described as “the greatest British play of the 21st Century” and his 2017 play, The Ferryman, won a Tony and an Olivier Award. So, this production gives audiences a great opportunity to discover one of this acclaimed writer’s lesser-known works.
It’s a three-hander and centres around Ned and Dale, neighbours on a nice new estate on the edge of the English countryside. On the surface, life is unremarkable. But Dale is struggling to maintain his relationship with his wife, Joy, and whenever he goes away on business, something goes missing from his home.
The narrative gives us a glimpse at the boring lives of the play’s protagonists. We see Ned and Dale’s friendship and Ned’s troubled marriage through a series of vignettes. Ned works in demolition, travels across the country blowing up buildings and spends a lot of his time watching videos of previous jobs. He’s looking forward to the upcoming demolition of the local Arndale Centre, as he is going to be in the local paper and maybe on TV – the peak of his aspirations. Dale is a little resentful that his success has come from a less impressive medium, car washes, with a responsibility for 30 Kosovan workers that he finds tedious rather than a sign of success.
Ned is married to the attractive but rather joyless Joy – their relationship has all but broken down, she is bored and their sex life is non-existent. There are no more games of “Sexy Scrabble” in the bedroom as there were earlier in their marriage. As the play progresses, we see Ned’s worries intensify as he is losing his hair, struggling to lose weight and desperate not to lose his wife. He’s rather a tragic figure, calling Joy his “cuddly toy” in an attempt to reignite the spark between them.
The script, revised by Butterworth in 2024, is full of his trademark style – fast-paced, witty and very naturalistic dialogue, particularly effective in Ned and Dale’s interactions. Ned’s monologues, from droning on about the logistics of his job to recounting a couple’s trip to Gloucester, are entertaining and do well to establish his character. There’s humour in scenes involving exercise, an excruciating evening meal and those set in the bedroom. But the play’s ending is a little less coherent and doesn’t offer a satisfying conclusion to the story. And the curious disappearance of objects with sentimental rather than monetary value from the home is rather underplayed and comes over as more of a distracting subplot than a compelling mystery.
James Haddrell’s direction has a good pace and the transition between scenes is smooth. Emily Bestow’s set makes good use of the stage, allowing us to move around these suburban homes without complicated scene changes. Lighting (Henry Slater) and video projection (Hannah Schlenker) are used very effectively to give us more insight into what’s going on, Ned’s emotional deterioration in particular.
In the role of Ned, Naveed Khan is the stand out performer. His nervous energy doesn’t drop, he’s clearly a man on the edge. Khan has the ability to switch effortlessly between comedy and drama and holds the audience’s attention whenever he’s on stage. Ned is easily the most rounded and sympathetic character.
As neighbour Dale, Jeremy Edwards acts as a narrator, breaking the fourth wall with the audience to draw us into each scene. He’s convincing as the “Jack the Lad” buddy character, and he’s at his best bantering with Ned. But some of his longer speeches felt rather stilted, and at times it felt as if he was just going through the motions rather than fully committing to the character. The role of Ned’s wife Joy, is a little under-written compared to the male characters, but Kellie Shirley did well to move from bored to flirtatious in her interactions with the men.
Although not as triumphant as Butterworth’s more famous and more recent works, Parlour Song offers hints of their brilliance. It’s a well-observed slice of suburban life with chilling undertones that elevate it from the mundane and unremarkable lives that we see on the surface. Running at just under 100 minutes it does feel a bit laboured in places but still offers much for the audience to enjoy.
Parlour Song runs at Greenwich Theatre until Saturday 24th May 2025. There will be post show Q&As on Wednesday 14th May with the cast and 21st May with the director. Find out more and book here.
★★★
