Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown – Playhouse Theatre

Tamsin Greig and members of the cast in Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at the Playhouse Theatre, London. Picture: Alastair Muir

Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown continues at the Playhouse, London.

2 stars **

Arguably one of Pedro Almodovar’s best loved movies, Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is an unconventional comedy that touches on the lives of several women in Madrid in the late 1980s. The movie brought the director international acclaim and featured a young Antonio Banderas in a key role, which kicked off a successful Hollywood – and musical theatre – career. In 2010 the story was adapted for Broadway as a musical by Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek, the team behind Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Despite direction by Bartlett Sher and featuring Broadway legend Patti LuPone, the limited run still had to close early due to poor ticket sales.

After such a difficult history in New York, it seems particularly brave of the producers to attempt to mount a major West End production. With major changes to the structure of the show, new designs by Anthony Ward and a fairly bankable name – Tamsin Greig – in the lead role of Pepa, this production, directed by Sher, still manages to flounder. The manic chaos that ensues when Pepa hears that her lover Ivan is leaving her for another woman leads to a riot of car chases, shoot-outs and ultimately a voyage of self-discovery. Almodovar’s distinctly passionate and broadly cinematic approach to the farcical elements of the story do not translate well to the stage, particularly when punctuated by musical numbers that only slow down the action.

At face value, Yazbek’s score is a success, capturing the Latin rhythms that should inform the character of the piece. The number ‘Model Behaviour’, featuring a hyper Anna Skellern as the needy Candela, throws a little madness into mix, as does the frenzied ‘Tangled’, while Haydn Gwynne bares her soul as Lucia with the touching honesty of ‘Invisible’. Flamenco and samba beats abound, but aside from the distinctly Hispanic vocals of Ricardo Afonso’s Taxi Driver/Narrator, the story might have well have been set in Hampstead as Madrid.

Tamsin Greig is certainly no stranger to either stage or television audiences and she proves here that she can hold a tune. A talented comedy actor, her portrayal of Pepa has honesty, compassion and a vulnerability that allows the audience to empathise. Much of this, however, is lost in the frenzy of the convoluted and often awkward staging.

Jerome Pradon as Ivan still manages to appear charming, despite his mantra on the fickleness of love with women (’Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’), while Haydn Oakley as his son Carlos, albeit an accomplished performer, is inexplicably miscast as the 20-year-old son.

Ward’s composite set has all the allure of a dentist’s waiting room that no amount of 1980s kitsch furniture can disguise and Caitlin Ward’s costumes are fairly unremarkable, save those of Lucia. It appears that as part of Lucia’s neurosis, she dresses like a succession of Bond girls through the ages. Sher’s direction is laughable in places – the motorcycle chase scene is slightly embarrassing – as he struggles to capture neither the frenzy nor the heart of the original story.

Paul Vale

www.womenonthevergemusical.com