Sitting review: Katherine Parkinson's ear for the cadences of comedy is unsurprisingly sharp

1/8
Henry Hitchings16 April 2019

This is the first play by Katherine Parkinson, star of TV’s Humans and The IT Crowd as well as recent bittersweet comedy Home, I’m Darling. It’s the fruit of a joint initiative from BBC Arts and producers Avalon, intended to encourage seasoned creatives to try writing for the stage.

When the scheme’s beneficiaries were announced, their identities caused a few raised eyebrows. In particular, it was hard to believe that Frank Skinner needed this leg-up, and his flimsy Nina’s Got News in due course bombed. Parkinson’s debut, probing the relationships between an artist and the people he depicts, was better received when it premiered in Edinburgh, and for this London run the script has been fine-tuned.

The three characters, who never interact, are being painted by John, whom we can’t see or hear. Decorator Luke at first misunderstands what’s involved, gamely stripping off until he twigs that nudity is not required. Yet he ends up exposing himself in other ways, as do fellow sitters Mary and Cassandra.

Their sessions in the studio become a form of therapy. Revelations pour from them, and it’s not long before there are hints that their lives are somehow connected. Twinkly-eyed single mother Mary (Hayley Jayne Standing) marvels at John’s intense scrutiny and reveals a tangled family history. Newcomer Poppy Fardell’s Cassandra, an aspiring actor, is resourceful yet also a fantasist, and while Luke initially seems less complex, Mark Weinman suggests this jaunty figure's latent sensitivity.

There’s a nice balance of wit and sadness in Sarah Bedi’s production, which allows the trio's stories room to breathe. Though their mix of chattiness and needy self-consciousness can be grating, Parkinson’s ear for the cadences of comedy is, unsurprisingly, very sharp.

Until May 11 (020 7503 1646, arcolatheatre.com)

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