Jordan Stephens & Tamzin Outhwaite in Entertaining Mr Sloane at Young Vic. ©Ellie Kurttz.Helmed by Nadia Fall, the Young Vic’s stylish production sees Tamzin Outhwaite arrive on stage dressed in full baby doll garb and back bouffant hair, to the strains of a ‘60s female ballad (was it Doris Day’s Soft As The Starlight?) as she inhabits the role of 40-something Kath. Opposite her, Jordan Stephens as Sloane is ingratiatingly foot-in-the-door as he attempts to convince her that he would make a very suitable upstanding lodger whilst being open to a bit of extra curricular — not that Outhwaite’s Kath appears to need much persuading given her coquettish pseudo-propriety paired with bouts of lascivious fervour.
Played in the round on Peter McKintosh’s set of a chaise beneath suspended cots, clothes racks, chairs, birdcages, bikes and other skeletal frames moodily lit by Richard Howell, the cast is completed by Daniel Cerqueira as Kath’s controlling brother Ed who has an equal fascination for the fit young lad and is soon vying for his attention and loyal affections, and Christopher Fairbank as their dishevelled and curmudgeonly father Kemp, who despite failing eyesight and general decrepitude, is certain he recognises the overly confident and unsettling boy under his roof.
I have to admit that in some ways, I always felt Orton’s chosen title was slightly misleading and that “Placating Mr Sloane” would have been a better choice given the title character’s sadistic streak and propensity to manipulate and inflict physical harm during bouts of rage. Here, Stephens making his stage debut, confidently manages the switch from charismatic sexual manipulator to misunderstood victim with playful ease, but is marginally less convincing in the scenes requiring physical intimidation.
The play is truly a product of its period, with misogyny front and centre and infantilising behaviour and language — Baby, Boy, Baby-Boy, I’m your Mama deployed by everyone towards Sloane and Kath’s never-less-than-irritating addressing of her father as Dadda. Each performer acquits themself well, adhering to the stylised period and pace in their creation of a scurrilous and loathsome spectacle of which Orton would surely have been delighted. It bodes well for Ms Fall’s tenure as Artistic Director.
ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE has a running time of 2 hours 30 minutes and continues at the Young Vic until 8th November.
