ARTS REVIEW
ARTS REVIEW
Revolutionary Road HANNAH NUNAN
forms the foundation of their relationship as Frank relies on the fact that he is an object of admiration for April, becoming dependent on the perception of his own greatness and obsessed with the idea that their marriage is based on complexity, not mediocrity.
Revolutionary Road is an acute depiction of a marriage that is constructed around a myriad of idealised images. Set in 1950s America, Frank and April Wheeler are a married couple who, meaning to settle down for their family, move to a suburban estate called Revolutionary Hill. Frank and April’s marriage, from the beginning, is evidently deteriorating. Frank believes himself to be superior to the role of the suburban husband he believes he has been forced into. Seen both in his youth and later life, Frank displays an obsession with power; he craves the feeling of authority over his wife, saying at one point after an argument that he ‘couldn’t even tell… whether it was forgiveness he wanted or the power to forgive’, yearning especially for validation of his own intelligence. This forms a crucial part of the basis of his relationship with April. Soon after they meet, April tells Frank that he is ‘the most interesting person [she’d] ever met.’ Whether this is truth or mere flattery, it
Facie an even more necessary watch. It is entertaining and captivating, but also vitally paints a realistic picture of our society. We as a culture need to be educated on our failures in order to fix them, and Suzie Miller has presented an accessible, easily digestible form of enlightenment. During its theatre run, Prima Facie was notably nominated for five Olivier awards, winning two, and was nominated for four Tony awards, winning one, among other accolades. In May 2023, it was announced that the play is due to be turned into a film starring English actress Cynthia Erivo, directed by Susanna White. The play is profoundly eye opening, with a final message so chillingly simple, it is understandable to all audience members: ‘Something has to change’.
As the play comes to a close, Tessa begins to go on rage driven tangents, speaking directly to the audience about the injustice faced by sexual assault victims in the legal system, repeatedly referencing ‘one in three’ which crops up a few times earlier in the play. This acknowledges the likelihood of a woman being sexually assaulted, enraging the audience after witnessing Tessa’s experience. Comer masterfully plays with your emotions, ending the play in tears and in silence, choking on her grief, as lights slowly appear behind her in the folders that line her ‘office’ walls. While meaningful and poignant, the political nature of the play may be viewed by some as a deterrent, being pummelled as you are with facts and statistics about the law and its shortcomings. However, I would argue that this makes Prima
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