Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Arifa Akbar

The Confessions review – dazzling drama drawn from a mother’s memories

Alchemy … (from left) Lilit Lesser, Jerry Killick, Pamela Rabe, Eryn Jean Norvill and  Joe Bannister in The Confessions at the National Theatre.
Alchemy … (from left) Lilit Lesser, Jerry Killick, Pamela Rabe, Eryn Jean Norvill and Joe Bannister in The Confessions at the National Theatre. Photograph: Christophe Raynaud de Lage

A reluctant protagonist stands at this drama’s centre: Alice, diminutive and white-haired, enters before the curtain is raised to insist: “I’m not interesting.”

She becomes bifurcated into young Alice (Eryn Jean Norvill) and old (Amelda Brown). But for all the diffidence on her part, writer and director Alexander Zeldin knows exactly what he is doing and why he is doing it. He spent time recording his mother and her peers to create this tight, searing sweep across a generation of women who fought to make themselves seen and heard. The result is a drama that captures heart and mind, brimming with emotional delicacy and quietly dazzling in its ambition.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.