Sophie Okonedo as Julie and Ben Daniels as Douglas. Image by Johan Persson
Play: Haunted Child
Theatre: Royal Court Downstairs
Playwright: Joe Penhall
Review by Joy Francis
Haunted Child, Joe Penhall’s first play in four years, looks tantalising on paper. The award-winning writer of Blue/Orange and Moses Jones knows his way around provocative topics. In this case a crisis of belief and spiritual dogma. With an impressive cast led by Sophie Okonedo and Ben Daniels, what could possibly go wrong?
Not much is going right for Julie (Okonedo). Her husband Douglas (Daniels) has vanished, leaving her to deal with the subsequent nightmares, bedwetting and suicidal thoughts of their 10-year-old son Thomas, played by Jack Boulter. When Douglas reappears he looks a mess. His teeth are broken; eyes glazed. He stares at Julie and Thomas as if they are strangers.
Before long it comes to light that he is part of a spiritual “Group” that sounds more like a religious cult, a term he rejects. The fact that Julie thought he was dead or had left her for another woman gets short shrift. “I’m not having an affair,” he barks. “It’s better than that.”
Even traumatising his son seems to have escaped his notice. Instead Douglas acts as if Julie’s belief that “children need boundaries” is causing Thomas to act out. It is easier to see Julie as the problem, though Douglas is conflicted as he still loves her. That doesn’t stop him accusing her of having the “inner life of a donkey”.
His growing agoraphobia, jarring behaviour and odd rituals, such as drinking a bucketful of salted water, are interspersed with intense superficial lectures on his new thinking. “It’s what distinguishes us from the animals…Spirituality as an evolutionary tool.” The path to Julie’s salvation, he claims, is for her to adopt his “healthy” philosophy – and to renounce sex. All the while he looks distressed and on the verge of a major emotional breakdown.
Julie is either deluded or a trouper as she attempts to revive the old Douglas by dragging out vinyl reminders of his love for David Bowie and Bob Marley. He resists, his face etched in pain, though he succumbs to sex, only to punish her (and himself) for his lapse.
Despite director Jeremy Herrin teasing out intense and committed performances from Okonedo and Daniels, the story just doesn’t add up. The play’s title and promotional pitch suggests that the impact of Thomas’s parents’ deteriorating relationship on his psyche is at the heart of the play. Yet he is peripheral to the haunted child within Douglas who is still grieving for the father he lost the same year Thomas was born. This means that his “self destructive” and “very complicated thoughts” were triggered 10 years ago. Surely Julie would be aware of a growing gulf between them over that time.
Then there’s Douglas and Julie’s relationship. Relentlessly unconvincing, there is little emotional connection between them. Douglas spouts platitudes and self help jargon. Julie is ridiculously patient with his increasingly disturbed behaviour. No one else is called upon for advice or guidance. Penhall’s use of humour fails to ignite the strained, unnatural atmosphere.
As for Thomas, charmingly played by Boulter, he doesn’t act out enough. His dialogue fails to show us his vulnerability. Having a 10-year-old boy, who has come home to a fatherless house (yet again), say “I am confused and unhappy” doesn’t ring true.
Whatever message Penhall wanted to convey through Haunted Child about spiritual belief, trapped grief and relationships got lost in translation.
Haunted Child is on until 14 January 2012.
Website: www.royalcourttheatre.com