‘Consent’ the fatefully timed Brighton play that you really need to see
Nina Raine’s Consent is a considered, gritty, and highly relevant play which opened in Brighton during the globally important Depp v Heard trial. The powerful production highlights the judiciary’s embarrassing culture of re-victimisation and injustice.
I went to see the performance in Brighton, as the celebrity trial reached its verdict, and the correlation between the script and real life was impossible to ignore.
It was a balmy Wednesday night, which felt like a Friday thanks to the rare four day Jubilee weekend. The play’s narrative was so relevant to my own experience as an advocate and victim, I felt I simply had to make the two hour drive South to see it.
Rushing into the packed New Venture Theatre a few minutes late, I felt excited to be reacquainted with one of Brighton’s longest standing independent theatres that I’d honestly almost forgotten existed.
The intimate vintage theatre, which affords Brightonians’ the opportunity to witness embryonic talent cutting their teeth, shows a wide variety of plays that challenge narratives and open minds, and Consent was certainly one of these.
With small tiered seating for about fifty and no velvet curtain to raise, It felt like you were instantly immersed into the scene-set. The play followed the lives of four lawyers, whose lives unfolded dramatically on stage, in a way that was uniquely intimate.
The compact yet confident amateur cast offered well-invested and thoroughly convincing performances, emotively enlivening the pain which fidelity, trauma, parenthood and crime brings.
Consent was heavy yet relevant, humourus yet pained and came with timely relevance that felt like fate: A time where global ripples of injustice were being acutely felt by female victims world over, victims who were blamed simply for speaking out.
The playright, Nina Raine, said this play was intended to be provocative, ‘I think theatre should air issues, not tie them up neatly with a bow’.
Directed by award winning Scott Roberts, this deeply emotive depiction of sexual assault and the increasingly prevalent victim-blaming which re-traumatises those brave enough to speak out, was powerfully portrayed with laugh aloud punctuation that had me wincing, laughing and empathising all at once.
With well researched Latin and legal references further texturizing the court room scenes, I left in a swirl of thoughts about justice, fate, fidelity and revenge.
This immersive and intimate invitation into the lives of victims, lawyers and the so-called ‘justice’ system will spark introspection and debate and is perfect for anyone interested in psychology, feminism, law or relationships.
The acting in this version of the National theatre’s sell out show at no point felt amateur, with the dedicated cast deserving a much larger stage and a far longer run.
You can see CONSENT being performed daily at 7.45pm until Saturday 4th June 2022 at the New Venture Theatre, BN1 2PT.
Review by Xenia Huntley
