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Adult Supervision – review Adult Supervision – review
(about 4 hours later)
It's US election night 2008 and Barack Obama is about to make history. Uptight former lawyer turned full-time mum, Natasha – who, like Madonna, has plucked her adopted children from an African village – has invited some school-gate mums from her childrens' pricey private school to her house to watch as events unfold on TV.It's US election night 2008 and Barack Obama is about to make history. Uptight former lawyer turned full-time mum, Natasha – who, like Madonna, has plucked her adopted children from an African village – has invited some school-gate mums from her childrens' pricey private school to her house to watch as events unfold on TV.
Apart from close friend Izzy, a child-woman who never knowingly engages her brain before opening her mouth, the guests have been carefully selected: white no-nonsense Mo and black Angela both have mixed-race children. As Mo quickly grasps, they have been invited to "sprinkle a little bit of chocolate into the mix" of Natasha's white life. Apart from close friend Izzy, a child-woman who never knowingly engages her brain before opening her mouth, the guests have been carefully selected: white, no-nonsense Mo and black Angela both have mixed-race children. As Mo quickly grasps, they have been invited to "sprinkle a little bit of chocolate into the mix" of Natasha's white life.
Imagine Abigail's Party crossed with Yasmin Reza's God of Carnage and throw in some of the racial provocation of Clybourne Park, and you have a flavour of Sarah Rutherford's first comedy, which sadly displays none of the craft nor skewering humour of those plays. There are jokes aplenty – some funny enough to make a north London audience gasp and roar with laughter. But the premise and the plotting are so outlandishly improbable and signposted that it's hard to believe a word. Imagine Abigail's Party crossed with Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage and throw in some of the racial provocation of Clybourne Park, and you have a flavour of Sarah Rutherford's first comedy, which sadly displays none of the craft nor skewering humour of those plays. There are jokes aplenty – some funny enough to make a north London audience gasp and roar with laughter. But the premise and the plotting are so outlandishly improbable and signposted that it's hard to believe a word.
The point of the play seems to be to expose liberal pieties and underlying prejudices, but as the obamatinis flow, female confidences are swapped and hostilities break out, it is the women themselves who bear the brunt of the joke. These are caricatures not characters, and there is something odd and slightly distasteful about the way Rutherford portrays the women either as deranged or hysterical, merely for the purposes of plot.The point of the play seems to be to expose liberal pieties and underlying prejudices, but as the obamatinis flow, female confidences are swapped and hostilities break out, it is the women themselves who bear the brunt of the joke. These are caricatures not characters, and there is something odd and slightly distasteful about the way Rutherford portrays the women either as deranged or hysterical, merely for the purposes of plot.
The lack of subtlety is reflected in the production and performances, although Olivia Poulet seizes her comic chances as the absurdly innocent Izzy and Amy Robbins brings clout to Mo.The lack of subtlety is reflected in the production and performances, although Olivia Poulet seizes her comic chances as the absurdly innocent Izzy and Amy Robbins brings clout to Mo.
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