Theatre Review - The Constituent
James Corden and Anna Maxwell Martin in The Constituent [Manuel Harlan]
IN the past eight years, two British MPs have been murdered while others have been threatened with violence or suffer online harassment. Joe Penhall’s latest play could not be more topical.
He reminds us of the dangers faced by politicians today, the tensions that can arise when offering a public service and growing concerns for the personal safety of MPs and thier families.
Set in a local constituency office, Monica (Anna Maxwell Martin), a hard-working opposition backbencher, meets Alec (James Corden) when he hits a security system and panic button.
During a jovial exchange, it transpires they went to primary school together. Then Alec, an Afghanistan veteran, confesses that he is suffering from domestic strife. His wife has left him and he asks Monica if she can help him with his custody battle. Her instinct is to support him, but others advise caution.
Alarm bells ring as Alec becomes more demanding and reveals he is on anti-psychotic drugs. But Monica’s attempts to distance herself from him prove futile. Things come to a head when her office is broken into and Alec is the prime suspect. Monica is fitted with a stab vest by Mellor (Zachary Hart), a parliamentary protection officer.
Penhall gradually builds tension with Alec’s increasingly unstable and threatening behaviour. The staging is simple (a desk and chairs) in Matthew Warchus’s taut production. The action takes place on a traverse set with the audience sitting on either side.
It is some measure of Penhall’s skill as a dramatist that we retain sympathy for Alec, the trauma he endured while serving in the army, even as we worry for Monica’s safety.
Corden and Maxwell Martin give compelling performances in this intelligent, political drama that keeps us guessing until the end.
Until August 10