That Face

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I’m trying desperately to focus on the one for the Almeida, which I badly need to finish. But the second I write “End” on that, I’ve really got to get started on the National one. I’m a bit behind schedule because the new one is a bit of a beastie. The one for the National is a much larger-scale play than I normally do – but because it all changes so much as I do it, it’s prudent not to say much.

There are many instances of Pinter Pauses that are shown throughout the play. Some of these pauses are pregnant pauses that cause tension in the room to almost be unbearable. There are also some ellipses pauses in between words that really build the tension between characters that the words are being spoken too. This comment about the play really shows how powerful the use of the elements Pinteresque style is within the play. Then there are some instances where there are long drawn out pauses to give more of a dramatic moment. Tim Smith from The Baltimore Sun had something to say about the tension that was on stage from Center Stage’s performance of That Face, “Josh Tobin taps into Henry’s neuroses with impressive nuance and brings startling intensity to the climactic scenes.” (Smith 2017). Polly Stenham MBE FRSL (born 16 July 1986) is an English playwright known for her play That Face, which she wrote when she was 19 years old. Polly Stenham wrote her first play, That Face, when she was 19; it opened at the Royal Court, later transferred to the West End, and was widely praised as an extraordinary debut. She has subsequently written three more plays – Tusk Tusk, No Quarter and Hotel – and is currently under commission for new work at the Almeida and National theatres. She is also the co-founder of the Cob Gallery in Camden, north London. Stenham, now 29, was a co-writer on the forthcoming The Neon Demon, a horror film set in the Los Angeles modelling world directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Scene 5 - Mia is trying to rush Izzy out of the house as Hugh is on his way home. She stands up for Hugh when Henry speaks fouly of him. Scene 8 - Mia wants to protect Henry from Martha and stands by him when she is about to be institutionalised. Mia begins to turn against Hugh

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For five years from the time that he was 13, Henry supported, covered for and humoured this woman. He is so obsessed with keeping her that he gave up his own education and prospects to do so. He also very nearly gives Mum-Martha his body in a final effort to retain her sanity.

This production contains adult themes throughout. There is use of strong and racist language. There are themes of alcoholism, drug misuse, addiction, violence and coercive behaviour. I ask her about being a woman in theatre in an era of #MeToo, and if she stands by her words in a 2016 interview – that this is the best time to be one. Yes, she insists, it is, but just as she said then, it does not mean the battle is done. “Pretty much everyone I know has been sexually assaulted, whether that’s a hand up a skirt at a club or rape.” But as far as theatre is concerned, she has been occasionally patronised – nothing more. “But then I’m a director; I’m not in the same vulnerable position as actors.” This play is a remarkable achievement for a nineteen-year-old author. But there are real defects. In addition to the problem of balance between the characters there is simply too much of Martha ‘in extremis’, compelling as the actors make these scenes. The tone has a relentless intensity of eloquent, intrafamilial evisceration that does not ebb and flow as it should, suggesting that the play has never quite transcended its obvious models in the work of Coward, Albee and Tennessee Williams.At some swanky, girls' boarding school our female Flashman (Flash-girl?) Izzy is an appropriately cowardly sadist who eventually ends up gibbering after, with help of heroine Mia, she puts a 13 year-old Arthur substitute into intensive care following an initiation rite that goes wrong.

NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Powerful, expressionistic production." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "Polly Stenham...has a quality of emotional desperation one more often associates with mature American dramatists." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "There is so much vigour in the writing, so much passion in the playing, that one leaves the theatre feeling strangely exhilarated." BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THE TIMES says, " That Face has its prolix and its overstated moments, but it impressed everyone when it launched Stenham's career at the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs last year." Despite her relatively young age, Polly Stenham has published and staged a significant number of plays. Her first Play, That Face, was written when Stenham was only nineteen years old. It was gained critical acclaim and launched Stenham to popularity. The Play established Stenham as a modern playwright who investigates contemporary themes, like dysfunctional families, alcoholism, and drug addiction. The plays Tusk Tusk (2009) and Hotel (2014) soon followed, to name a few.

Polly Stenham - Key takeaways

Powered by family dysfunction … Zoe Boyle, Joshua James, Taron Egerton and Tom Sturridge in Stenham’s No Quarter in 2013. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian Another element of Psychological Realism that Martha’s character is showing is her fear of losing Henry. This fear has made her stay in a childish state of mind. She doesn’t want to get help from a mental health clinic because she knows she wouldn’t be able to see Henry anymore. She’s also feeling threatened with the fact that Mia has shown up, she doesn’t want to share Henry with anyone, and she feels Mia is getting in the way of that. Martha also tells the family once Hugh shows up that she tried to get help from him, but he didn’t want to help her at all. He would rather send her to a cheap mental hospital where no one would know who she is. Martha is not the only one who is feeling fear. Mia is afraid for Henry because she has watched Henry throw his life away just to take care of their mother. She wants nothing more than Henry to leave their dad to handle her. She wants Henry to let go of the thought that he is responsible for Martha and that he should live a normal life. In the text, Mia tries to reason with Henry about how worried she is for his health. “You tried. You really tried, and I’ll always love you for that. But she’s worse. You can’t handle it. Look at the state of you…” (Stenham 56; Act 1.5). Mia is aware that Henry has been under a lot of pressure because of their mother, and she just wants to see him happy. However, Mia is not aware of how co-dependent Martha and Henry really are on each other. Writer Polly Stenham was just 19 when she wrote this, her first play. Having had it's premiere at the Royal Court and garnered a number of awards, it's now moved up to the West End. It's success is well-deserved because there's a freshness in the writing and the humour as well as the plot. She is a fan of Radiohead's album In Rainbows, which she says she listened to constantly while writing Tusk Tusk. [17] Work [ edit ]

So why adapt Miss Julie, a well-worn canonical work from 1888? Because the story of an aristocrat and her two servants is the perfect vehicle for causing contemporary explosions, she says. “You can get a big star and a big space with a classic, and you can truffle in much more radical material, too. It can be hidden in the Trojan horse of the classic and much more can be detonated inside it.”Mike Britton alternates between a bedroom that becomes increasingly Tracey Emin-influenced as the night goes on and other simpler creations until the whole space is as horrible a mess as the family that occupy it. Scene 5 - "You made your choice to stay Henry and I made mine to leave, it's not my fault she's worse" On first viewing at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, played in the round in a gloriously grungy setting designed by Mike Britton, the play demonstrated great promise in an atmosphere where both critics and audiences are inclined to be generous.