Blessings
Riverside Studios
until 26th October
With bold 1960s prints stretched across the backdrop and scenes punctuated by period music and soundbites, Blessings at Riverside Studios captures both the style of the era and the tensions simmering beneath a Catholic family’s daily rituals. It’s a fast-paced sitcom-style play full of questions – that keeps its audience leaning forward.
As the family gather to celebrate Easter, the action begins with a shock revelation from eldest daughter Frances (Hannah Traylen), who controversially works full time at the local Co-op instead of finding a “proper job”. Traylen brings fiery charm and defiance to the role, her refusal to bend exposing cracks in the Deacon family’s foundations.
At the helm of the household are Anna Acton as Dorie and Gary Webster as Frank. Acton balances composure with flashes of doubt, embodying a mother whose Catholic sense of duty is always at odds with her heart. Webster’s Frank exudes authority tinged with anger and secrecy, making us wonder what he is hiding; he also doubles convincingly as hilarious Father O’Brien, switching between patriarch and priest with ease.
Among the siblings, Emily Lane’s Sal is our lens, both participant and detective, a restless yet compliant teenager awaiting her O-levels results whilst trying to make sense of her hormones and her family. Milly Roberts gives Penny a vivid, watchable presence, injecting humour and sharpness, while also transforming neatly into Sal’s friend Vita.
Freddie Webster plays Martin, the pretentious only son, a senior executive working on the Kit Kat account. He performs with relish, doubling as randy Pete, forever circling Sal, whilst planning his exit route out of town.
Humour threads naturally through the drama. Martin’s girlfriend Jennifer, who “never farts,” also never appears on stage, yet she becomes a running joke and oddly vivid presence, proof of the play’s knack for finding character in absence as well as presence.
The play’s universal themes, its questions about how we navigate family relationships, and about how far we’re prepared to go for our loved ones, are as relevant to now as they are to the 60s, but there is also a slight sense that the writing dances around familiar ideas.
Despite that, the pace of the story and the vivid characters, together with the committed ensemble, keep us hooked.
Who is Dorie phoning? Why does she indulge Frances? Is Father O’Brien more than he at first appears? What’s bugging Frank? These multiple questions are finally answered in a satisfying twist ending.
Blessings is playing at Riverside Studios London until 26th October.
Reviewer: Klara Kallis