Little southern comfort

Lisa Dillon stars as Isabel in Period of Adjustment.

Do you find the idea of pathologically unreasonable people yammering at each other in glutinous Texas accents funny? Yay-uss? Then, boy, does the Almeida have a show for you, darlin'! Listen up.

In this 1960 play, Tennessee Williams set out to expose the uncertainty beneath the cosy confidence of Eisenhower-era America through comedy. So, overheated Williams characters are pitched into patently absurd situations.

Even though Howard Davies's production is beautifully judged and superbly acted, I found it infuriating. Maybe it's just my deep-seated aversion to Deep-South histrionics. Then again, maybe there's a reason why this play hasn't been performed in this country for 40 years.

Jared Harris is Ralph Bates, a Korean war veteran who married his wife for her father's money, only to see her walk out on Christmas Eve with their "cissy" son. Never mind: their places are taken by old comrade George (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his new but unconsummated wife Isabel (Lisa Dillon), who start competing for Ralph's sympathy with tales of their hurried, stupid, sexless union.

George suffers tremors that make him aggressive. Isabel, formerly his nurse, is scared of blood and sex. Exstud Ralph admits to sporadic impotence: his wife (Sandy McDade) is loving but unlovely. And the sweet, 1950s house in which this all takes place? It's sinking into a cavern. Do ya see the sym-bo-liz-um, darlin'?

The gritty central point - about emasculated men and distraught women, struggling in a supposedly prosperous, egalitarian era - could be made in 15 minutes. Much of the play therefore consists of circular, shouty, pointless and improbable arguments. The second half is faster and funnier, but could still be improved by knocking the characters' heads together.

Until 29 April (020 7359 4404).

Period Of Adjustment

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