In a surprising co-incidence, the second full staging in the enterprising from Page to Stage season turns out to be covering similar ground as The Mistress Contract across the river at the Royal Court. It’s a 75-minute show which ‘illustrates’ the offer of a similar arrangement to 30-something New York girl Tess with the stories of four mistresses from history. It felt like work-in-progress rather than a finished piece; well it is part of a season of work in development after all!
The other mistresses are a 14-year old 12th century Chinese concubine, the mistress of a 16th century French king, an early 20th century New Orleans brothel madam and diarist of sexual exploits Anais Nin. We hear from them all; the trouble is we don’t hear enough from Tess, who seems more like a device for the other stories than a fully fledged character in her own right. I think Beth Blatt needs to flesh out her story and give it more substance.
Jenny Giering’s music is nice, though it lacked variety with just five female voices and a piano (gorgeously played by Caroline Humphris). Bronagh lagan’s staging and Eda Giray’s designs were both effective and elegant. The cast performed the material well; I was particularly impressed by Kara Lane and Nicola Blackman, but I felt Tess was a little under powered.
There’s a full show in there waiting to be brought out, but even as it is, I enjoyed it a lot more than the other one across the river!
Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog 
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