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Ruthless People: Ruthless - Arches Lane Theatre

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What is it about the Madoff’s that writers can’t resist writing about? Sure, it may have been the largest Ponzi scheme to collapse (so far), but there isn’t much more to explore. Or is there? In Ruthless by writer Roger Steinmann, Ruth Madoff is imagined as a wronged, gun-toting woman anchored in the past while trying to move on with her life. It’s not entirely successful but a fascinating look at life and wig choices, It’s currently playing at the theatre now known as the Arches Lane Theatre in Battersea. Ruth Madoff, played by Emily Swain, is here wearing a wig. I thought it was an odd look until I reviewed how closely it matched the photo of her interview in  The New York Times .  Typically, it’s the sort of wig you might see worn by Ladies on a night out in central London, not someone who once had over $80m in assets. With Bernie in Jail and both her sons now dead - one by suicide and one due to cancer, she is setting a table for the men who have left her. And ordering p...

More sex and violence: Playfight @sohotheatre

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The funny thing about three girls growing up under a tree is that you never quite know when they're being serious or just messing about. One time, they might be talking about giving blow jobs on a tennis court at school and another, they might be yearning for a connection that they can't quite explain. That's what happens in Playfight, an Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 hit currently showing at Soho Theatre. 

Writer Julia Grogan doesn't give us much time to dwell on the lives of these three young teenage girls. One minute, they're fifteen and giggling, and then the next thing, they're off getting married or going to University. But underneath all the smutty talk, humour, and quick scene changes, there is a darker underbelly about relationships, power, and consent. It's about finding your way in a complex world that can dehumanise and degrade you. But as things move so quickly, you could blink and miss it.

This is too bad as the performances capturing this coming-of-age moment are terrific. There's the free-wheeling and dirty Keira (Sophie Cox), who films her escapades as proof for her mates, the studious Zainab (Nina Cassells), who is focused on getting good grades to get out of town and the pious Lucy (Lucy Mangan), who isn't sure about what she wants. You never get quite enough time to understand who they are. There is a punch line usually about sex and the scene changes. But guilt, shame and violence never seem to be far away.

It's a simple production, with mulch on the stage and a bright pink ladder planted to depict the old tree the girls would gather under. While not quite the colour, it did seem to evoke the domestic violence benches in parks—a place marked as safe. In this piece, safe spaces are illusory and not even your friends can help you. They have neither the life skills nor the support network. And that's an interesting comment on life in this country. 

Directed by Emma Callander, Playfight is at Soho Theatre until  26 April. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Photo by Paul Blakemore

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