Some Woman review – Anne-Marie Duff is wholly believable but this twisty drama is not
Dorfman theatre, London The far-fetched plot turns and some underdeveloped characters undermine the powerful messages about prejudice in Helen Edmundson’s play Opposing forces tug against each other in this new drama as Anne-Marie Duff is magnificent amid playwright Helen Edmundson’s implausible plotting. The result is a failed suspension of disbelief yet a convincing central performance. Duff plays Julie, a mother…
Key points
- Anne-Marie Duff plays Julie in Helen Edmundson's play Some Woman at the Dorfman theatre, London.
- The plot follows Julie facing a legal battle after an 11-year-old boy insults her at a tube station.
- The review says Duff is convincing but the play's plot turns and thin characters weaken its message.
Anne-Marie Duff stars in Some Woman, a new play by Helen Edmundson at the Dorfman theatre, National Theatre, London, running until 21 November. Duff plays Julie, a mother, ex-wife and working woman whose life is upended by an incident at a tube station when an 11-year-old boy randomly and aggressively insults her.
Julie challenges the boy and, through a series of plot turns the review calls unconvincing, ends up facing a legal battle and a possible prison sentence. The review says Duff gives a convincing central performance, but the implausible plotting and underdeveloped characters undermine the play's messages about prejudice.
What the play explores
The review says the play is full of important issues, including stories of casual sexual abuse that people around Julie laugh off, and the idea that the legal system distrusts women and believes men, or in this case an 11-year-old boy. It notes that no incontrovertible evidence exists against Julie, yet she stands to lose everything.
The review compares these points to the drama Prima Facie, but says Some Woman is not a courtroom drama and that the alleged crimes it turns on are simply not believable.
Truth is all Julie has and upholds, whatever the legal repercussions.
— The Guardian review
Performances and staging
Directed by Blanche McIntyre and staged without an interval, the production has potential, the review says, but throws in too many unfocused issues, from one daughter's eating disorder to Julie's difficult relationship with another daughter, plus her experience of infidelity and divorce. It says the characters around Julie are too flimsy to feel true.
The review describes many individually moving and harrowing scenes, culminating in a confrontation between Julie and the boy's father. It says Julie refuses the victimhood pushed on her and upholds the truth whatever the legal repercussions, calling her an everyday female hero.
