IRA Levin’s chillingly mysterious Veronica’s Room, a stage play written and set in 1973, six years after his international success with the novel Rosemary’s Baby, filmed the following year.
Such are the demands on its four actors that it is unsurprisingly rarely performed, requiring supreme versatility, incisive psychological insights and an ability to create a visceral sense of menace. Director Robert Graydon, reunited again with one of his favourite Swan leading ladies Sarah Ambrose, has gathered a cast whose intelligence and intensity brings this frightening play to vivid life.
It is difficult to write about it without spoilers. It starts in 1973 in a strangely dated room in a Massachusetts house, and the second act is in the same room in 1935. I had no idea what was going on until the final few moments.
Sarah Ambrose plays the woman with her usual warm charm, this time edged with occasional glimpses of glass filings. Roger Mumford has never been better than as the man. Newcomer Eleanor Moy brings a terrifying intensity to the hippy girl. Ethan Taylor’s opening ineptitude might be the nervousness of a young actor, or not …
The intimate power of this play takes the already versatile Swan repertoire to a new level.
Veronica’s Room is on until Saturday 19th January. See it if you can.
GP-W