Flora Wilson Brown's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's experimental 1931 novel, The Waves, has received high praise at the Jermyn Street theatre in London. The production deftly transforms the novel's patchwork of six friends' lyrical inner monologues into a naturalistic script that is relatable, moving, and humorous. The play follows the characters from childhood to middle age, capturing the joy, cruelty, and beautiful mundanity of life.
Ria Zmitrowicz stars as Rhoda, an anxious introvert who serves as the chief narrator, bringing sensitive introspection and wry observation to the role. The cast of six, under Júlia Levai's meticulous direction, demonstrates uncrackable chemistry, morphing effortlessly from truth-blurting children to weary midlifers. Performances avoid caricature, with Archie Backhouse's Louis, for example, portrayed as both an ambitious striver and insecure.
The production introduces dialogue to Woolf's inner monologues, allowing the group's decades-long connection to develop organically. The script weaves in Woolf's most beautiful lines, such as a grieving Susan's question, 'How can people bump into me on the tube […] and they don't seem to know?' and the boys' discovery of masturbation making it 'quite impossible to sleep' because 'it is brilliant'.
While the hazy timestamp presents design challenges, Tomás Palmer's bare set includes a back wall where characters scratch phrases, developing a patina of their collective experience over the run. Lucía Sánchez Roldán's lighting subtly hints at the rising and falling of years' worth of suns. These minor gripes do little to detract from a show that wonderfully captures the essence of human connection.
