THEATRE REVIEWS

Anomaly Review – Old Red Lion Theatre

ANOMALY

What happens when a family, under the most intense scrutiny of the public eye, is faced with unbearable pain?

A review by Tanya Howard

With the MeToo movement still very fresh in a lot of people’s minds Liv Warden’s debut play Anomaly explores the after effects on a family when their Dad is arrested on suspicion of GBH. Some of us are quick to brand them with the same brush as the perpetrator claiming they must have known but what if they had been a victim themselves, too scared to speak out for fear of retribution.

It’s 6am. News has just broken that Phillip Preston; media mogul and film-industry powerhouse has been arrested for assaulting his wife. His three daughters, who lead separate lives, are left with the fallout. As they battle the world’s press, the board members of Preston International and each other, they soon find themselves not only fighting to save the Preston dynasty but to protect everything they know to be true. What happens when a family, under the most intense scrutiny of the public eye, is faced with unbearable pain?

Penny is the most practical of the sister, the heir to the family business, living in London, whilst Penny is a glamourous actress living in LA who has recently had a baby. Polly, the final of the three sisters, is estranged from her family and is thought to be receiving treatment at The Priory, a rehab facility. Penny is the first to hear of her Dad’s arrest and has to tell Piper over the phone that he has been arrested for attacking their mother, which neither girl seem particularly surprised by and are more concerned with how they will handle the media circus surrounding the arrest.

Assuming Polly is still in The Priory, having not spoken to her for three years since her first rehab stint, they do not know that she has checked herself out and broken into the family home in hopes of seeing her Mum. With the home being empty it is assumed that Mum is recuperating at Auntie Sue’s which we find out is her go to place whenever Phillip lays a hand on her or she finds out he is having an affair, proving this to not be the first time this has happened in the Preston household.

All daughters reminisce separately about their childhoods spent with their Dad, Polly remembers her 7th birthday when her Dad gave her Queens Greatest Hits on CD whilst she was dressed as a fairy, but also when he hit her across the eye with a belt when she caught him in a compromising position with their 19-year-old au pair. Penny also caught him with the au pair, but in the car so he didn’t see her, and she remembers being angrier at the au pair for making that mistake causing her to be exiled from the family home.

Piper recalls her father refusing her work experience request of going to a ballet school and making her work at Preston International for the week. Seeing the respect and way people treated her at Preston International made her realise this what she wanted to do for the long run, although this now meant that she was the one tasked with attempting to salvage the family name and stop the empire from falling.

The three actresses all gave an incredible performance, showing pure raw emotion as if they were truly living these moments. It really helped to connect the audience with the play, feeling their every emotion as the play went on. None of the sisters actually interact personally with each other, as the scenes are either solo, with voice overs or across transatlantic calls but you could still feel the chemistry and bond between them.

The play ends with a live radio interview between Piper and Penny, surprising them both when Polly also joins them. Both annoyed that they have been blindsided they are stunned into further silence when Polly asks if either of them have actually checked on their Mum throughout this ordeal, which they have not, and she tells them that she is at the family home and in the bathroom is their Mum’s dead body.

The audience are left with an uneasy feeling as you are left to wonder what exactly will happen to this broken family. Does their denial and silence mean they were complicit in the attacks or were they too scared to speak up for fear of it happening to them, like when Polly was picked up by her Dad at the school disco and molested by him. Her thoughts being who would believe a child over the all-powerful Philip Preston. Are they simply victims themselves with a life time of mental and emotional abuse that has led to their Dad in avertedly controlling their behaviour. The play really does give you something to think about.

Photo Credit: Natasha Cowley