The Breath of Life at The Little Theatre in Leicester sees novelist Frances Beale (played by Angela Hill) visit the Isle of Wight home of her ex-husband’s ex-mistress Madeleine Palmer (Liz Kavanagh) to ostensibly write a memoir detailing the affair and potentially find closure in the process.
Over the course of the play we learn that Frances met her husband Martin whilst he was dating Madeleine and that both relationships continued even after the truth was told. The affair only ended after Martin ran away to Seattle with a younger girlfriend leaving Frances and Madeleine to pick up the pieces of their lives.
Hill captures the questioning personality of Frances well, constantly prodding and digging at Madeleine in her quest for answers. There is an underlying anxiety to Frances’ character which Hill leans into effectively, signalling that there is perhaps something unsettling her beyond the questions she is asking. Certainly, Hill well portrays that Frances needs closure even if she doesn’t realise it herself.
Completing the cast of this two-hander play, Kavanagh also digs into her character to find nuances to bring to the fore throughout the performance. Although Madeleine may seem calm in her somewhat reclusive home, has she perhaps repressed feelings about the affair with Martin for too long? There are moments when Kavanagh allows this turmoil to bubble to the surface before simmering back down to a cool façade.
Unfortunately, as well acted as the play is, David Hare’s script itself is lacking. The show is all build up with no satisfying denouement to bring everything together. The show is mostly is told in retrospect, with too much ‘I said’/‘he said’ and not enough present-moment action and reaction to show growth in the characters.
This is an overly dialogue heavy play. With little else going on in the play besides talking, it can at times be difficult to fully follow everything that is is being said and hold the story together in your head.
Ironically for a play in which a character states, “I refuse to be defined by the man in my life,” the lead women talk almost exclusively about Martin and seem to be defined entirely by the affair with Martin. It is unclear by the end of play what either character wants from life, besides potentially closure from Martin and to board the next ferry.
Tonally, the play can’t seem to settle on whether Frances and Madeleine are supporting or sparring one another. The climax of one scene seems to be that they are angry at each other, but the next scene they are having coffee together with the previous night’s heated argument all seemingly water under the bridge.
Again, I emphasise that these are faults with the source material and not with the Little Theatre’s production of the show.
Indeed, Nadine Hall’s split level set design is beautiful, well capturing that sea-front house aesthetic with large windows letting ample light in. I could easily imagine sitting on the cushioned window seats, reading a book from the well-stocked bookshelf looking out at the beach.
This is complemented by Andy Crooks’ effective lighting design which subtly gives a sense of time passing, casting shadows through the set’s windows and setting the mood for the piece.
