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by Joe Penhall, directed by Matthew Warchus

The Old Vic, London, GBR

June 25-August 10, 2024

Monica: “I believe in mercy and compassion”

When tickets for Joe Penhall’s latest play The Constituent went on sale, the Old Vic had to set up a lottery since the demand was so high. The main drawing power of the play was no doubt the chance to see James Corden back on the British stage since his last appearance there in 2012 in Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors. The presence of Anna Maxwell Martin, best known for her turns in “Bleak House” (2005) and “Line of Duty” (2019-21) , was a major further inducement. The highest priced tickets sell for £180 (or about $312 CAD), which might give one pause for a 90-minute, three character play, yet the play and Corden and Martin are definitely worth seeing.

Penhall’s best known play, Blue/Orange (2000), dealt with mental illness and the people-unfriendly guidelines and protocols of the NHS. The Constituent deals again with mental illness but within the people-unfriendly guidelines and protocols of the police and the court system. The problem has arisen in the UK after the assassination of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016 on her to way to a routine constituent surgery (i.e., scheduled meeting with constituents) by a white supremacist and after the assassination of Conservative MP David Amess in 2021 at a constituent surgery by an Islamic State sympathizer. Access to extra security was mandated for all MPs after Cox’s murder, but after Amess’s murder the question began to be asked whether MPs should meet their constituents at all. In 2021 Common Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle stated, “We have got to make sure that democracy survives this”.

Penhall’s play starts with this central issue of personal safety versus community responsibility for MPs but takes on greater resonance as it unfolds. Monica (Martin) is in her constituency office while Alec (Corden) is finishing up installing new security systems, like CCTV and a panic button. As they chat, Alec wonders if Monica remembers that they went to the same grade school together and that their mothers had been friends. Monica can’t immediately place Alec but does recall that what he says is true. Alec knows how Monica’s life has turned out, so she naturally asks what his life has been like.

He is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, where his role was to try to turn members of the Taliban to work for the British. He met his wife there and after such a stressful life he is happy to have a job as boring as his present one. Not all is well because his wife is seeking a divorce, has kicked Alec out and her boyfriend has moved in. The matter of the custody of their children is now in family court, because Alec threatened to kill his wife’s new partner.

In the next scene Alec comes to visit Monica as one of her constituents. He wants her to present a bill in parliament to protect men’s rights since he has found that in the courts he is always presumed guilty. Monica, of course, says that as a backbencher she cannot put forward a bill and even if she could such a bill would never be accepted by her party because of its topic, and even if it were accepted and discussed is would not come to a vote for at least six months. Alec wants immediate action, but Monica tries to make clear that she has only limited options. She can’t interfere with his court case, but she can recommend counselling and a new doctor as he feels he is not well served by his present one.

The situation escalates to the point where Alec is texting Monica constantly and has even called her home phone number. Much as she wants to help Alec, Monica begins to wonder whether Alec has become obsessed with her and has begun stalking her.

At this point she contacts the police. She is briefed by Officer Mellor (Zachary Hart), but in scene that is both comic and disturbing, the number of things she must not do when engaging with a constituent is so great that they ultimately preclude seeing a constituent at all. When Monica feels she really must see Alec at least one more time, Mellor insists that she wear a stab vest.

Events reach a climax when Monica’s office has been vandalized and Monica has been injured. Mellor’s assumption is that Alec did this. A photo of Monica in hospital has been leaked to the press and Alec has been indicated as the perpetrator. Any hope of relying on his good character or service for his country in his court case has been destroyed.

This sudden shift of the action into the realm of mystery and conspiracy feels foreign to a play that has hitherto focussed so well on the changing interpersonal relationship of Monica and Alec. Nevertheless, the chance to see Martin and Corden acting together on stage is one not to be missed. Both are simply outstanding and for Canadians a sobering reminder of how seldom we see acting of this calibre on our stages.

Martin is a master of conveying multiple meanings with everything she says and even with her silences. She portrays Monica as fundamentally earnest and as a politician who really does want to use her office to do good. As Monica tells Alec, “I believe in mercy and compassion”, and we solidly believe her. Throughout her various interactions with Alec, Martin through pauses, facial gestures and changes in intonation reveals that Monica is constantly judging Alec and trying to evaluate his emotional state, his mental state, his potential for making wrong decisions and, to her dismay, his potential for doing her harm.

Few actors can accomplish this much, but Martin also let us see Monica’s minute reactions to each of the possibilities her mind throws up in speaking with Alec and her attempts to prevent Alec from reading her reactions. How she can project such complexity without amplification to an audience of 1000 makes her performance a masterclass in stage acting.

Corden, who could play any role he wanted after his successful career in the US, has clearly chosen the role of Alec to demonstrate that he is more than a comedian. It is wonderful how Corden is so at home in this new role that we soon forget his celebrated comic past. Alec does have several comic lines in the first part of the play, and Corden uses them to establish what a happy, normal Alec might be like if he had the chance.

However, as soon as Alec feels he can speak frankly with Monica, Corden’s Alec no longer cares if he appears “normal” and Corden presents us with all the rage, resentment, paranoia and sadness that Alec has bottled up since he has had no one to talk to, let alone appear to understand him. Like Martin, Corden is also a master of conveying multiple emotions simultaneously. When Alec speaks to Monica, Corden reveals Alec judging his own performance, asking whether he is speaking too much, too loudly, too incoherently. We sympathize with Alec during these moments, because when Alec’s inner judgements switch off, he can easily say something outrageous and damaging. With his complex portrayal of Alec, Corden makes clear that any role is now open to him, comic or serious.

As a consulting police officer Mellor, Zachary Hart, does not have to present as complex a character as do Martin and Corden. Indeed, Mellor’s lack of insight is one of the main ways Penhall brings comedy into the increasingly disturbing action of the play. Hart presents the irony of a public servant who espouses adherence to the rules but feels free to break them to achieve a desired result. He laughs at Monica’s concern for compassion and mercy. And worse, he is prejudiced against Alec from the start. He looks down on war veterans who can’t cope with civilian life, without seeing any of the problems with such a view. Hart brings out the haughtiness of ignorance in Mellor so perfectly we would like to take a swing at him ourselves.

The action plays out on a modified version of the Old Vic stage. Designer Rob Howell has placed realistic characters and props in an abstract setting. The playing area is a raised 30-foot square with lights around the rim. The square platform is situated with one half on the Old Vic stage and one half thrusting into the auditorium so that the first row in the stalls is F. There are also 221 ranked seats on the Old Vic stage that achieve the people-watching-people effect that is one theme of the play. The nature of the square playing area with one half on solid ground and one half in mid-air may reflect the situation of the two main characters who both feel as if they are losing control.

Penhall’s play reminds us that despite all the horrid people who seem to feature constantly in the nightly news, there still are good people in politics who, like Monica, believe in mercy and compassion. What Penhall indicates so clearly is how rinsing levels of fear have led to rising levels of people seeking to protect themselves from other people. At a certain point, overconcern for security prevents the few good people there are from acting effectively. This, in turn, only causes levels of fear to rise. Penhall’s play asks whether we can again somehow find a balance again in public life between openness and security and underscores the peril at hand if we do not.

Christopher Hoile

Photo: James Corden as Alec and Anna Maxwell Martin as Monica; Anna Maxwell Martin as Monica; James Corden as Alec; Zachary Hart as Mellor. © 2024 Manuel Harlan.

For tickets visit: www.oldvictheatre.com.