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Shaking
all over
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PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT
Almeida
BY 1960, when Period of Adjustment opened in New York, Tennessee
Williams could look back on being the poetic and passionate
voice of the American theatres.
The US in the mid-1950s was emerging from its involvement
not only in World War II but also in Korean between 1950-3.
All appeared stable. A baby boom of church congregations was
rising and housing was affordable. All seemed cosy and comforting
as apple pie.
America had achieved its indissoluble identity once again. It
is Christmas Eve and Ralph Bates (Jared Harris) is sprawled
out with a can of beer. The TV blasts out Frank Sinatra’s
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – an acid irony
on what follows.
Ralph has been in both wars with his buddy George Haverstick
(Benedict Cumberbatch). George arrives, dumps new wife Isobel
and drives off. Lisa Dillon is the apparently unconsummated
bride. We learn this gradually. Mrs Bates has fled with her
two children because Ralph has quit his job. George returns
armed with champagne and he and Ralph greet each other with
boyish boisterous affection. He too has become unemployed.
Mike Britton’s split set is a sterile bedroom above the
living space. George rages repeatedly, uncontrollably shaking.
This is moderated by alternative displays of affection and anger
towards Ralph.
The house shows cracks because it has been built over a cavern
and shakes violently when a tremor occurs. Ralph lives up to
the biblical injunction blessed are the peacemakers for he tries
to calm the turbulent newly weds by repeating: “It’s
a period of adjustment.”
Dorothea Bates (Sandy McDade) returns to the crumbling house
to retrieve the children’s presents but decides to stay
when Ralph gives her a beaver fur coat as a Christmas present,
going broke in the process.
This is where Williams produces rich laughter. Lisa Dillon is
a delightful Marilyn Monroe and Jared Harris keeps impressing
by continuing to convey human emotions
Cumberbatch’s yearning to start a cattle ranch” is
a welcome respite amid his sporadic outbursts bordering on spontaneous
combustion. Sexual congress with Ralph is abated by a severe
tremor – the house shakes.
Williams, looking at a complacent and self-satisfied society,
could see the cracks as plain as in the Base’s ramshackle
house.
Four stars out of five.
Until April 29
020 7359 4404
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