Three Tall Women

Award winning writer Edward Albee, whose best known work is probably Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, had a difficult upbringing and Three Tall Women purports to be semi-autobiographical. Albee certainly likes to challenge audiences and this play is no exception. Director Meg Nutt was certainly able to rise to the challenge, working with such a talented cast. 

The curtains open on to a lavish bedroom setting, which had been dressed beautifully, especially with the fabulous chandelier in the centre. Congratulations to the set designer Andy Newell and the building team.

Act 1 - The Old Woman (Mary Alderson) is 92 and rich but pretends to be 91. She is being cared for by The Middle-Aged Woman (Emma Harrison) and The Young Woman (Chrissie Elcock), a solicitor’s clerk, is there to try and bring order out of the chaos of unpaid bills. Mary skilfully depicts the confused mind of the 92 year old as she struggles with reminiscences of her life with a bad marriage and a gay son. As the carer The Middle-Aged Woman has to be sometimes caring, sometimes bullying. The Young Woman came across as hard and trying to distance herself from becoming like the other two. The first act ends with The Old Woman having a stroke.

Act 2 - Here we see the bed occupied by a dummy with an oxygen mask, watched over by two women, they, are then joined by the old lady, now more sprightly and coherent. It turns out that they are the same person aged 70, 52 and 26 and between them they reminisce on what was spoken about in the first act and we find out about the burden of having to be strong for the whole family.

The part of the old lady was particularly challenging, especially in the first act and Mary Alderson demonstrated great acting skills by then switching to a 70 yr old in the second act. Emma Harrison gave strong contrasting portrayals as the carer in the first act and then as the 52 yr old in the second. She was splendid in her anger towards her homosexual son who she had turned out of the house. He silently enters the room to sit at the bedside of the comatose figure, seeking acceptance. As The Young Man, Luke Morrison played this non-speaking part. Chrissie Elcock came into her own in the second act as the younger alter ego who kept assuring us that she was a ‘good girl’ but was soon to learn what was to befall her from the other two. The play concludes with the old lady saying her happiest moment is “When it’s all done. When we stop. When we can stop.” 

Certainly this was a thought provoking play once you understood what was happening in the second act. I’m always up for a challenge!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.