There is no shortage of conviction in this revival of Lillian Hellman’s southern American classic about a greedy, feuding, family and the torment of a woman’s ambition within it. When one actor fainted a few minutes into the play on opening night, the cast reconvened to begin again within the hour.
But the ideas behind the production, directed by Lyndsey Turner, do not coalesce quite so well. It takes us faithfully through the story of the scheming Regina (Anne-Marie Duff) who, with her equally grasping brothers, Ben (Mark Bonnar) and Oscar (Steffan Rhodri), seeks to raise the investment for a cotton mill deal that requires the consent of her dying, and unwilling, husband, Horace (John Light).
