Tea at 5
Writer: Matthew Lombardo
Old Joint Stock Theatre Company
The Burrow, Russell Place, Brighton
Known for her headstrong independence and spirited personality, Katherine Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years. This play adapted from Hepburn’s memoirs, Me: Stories of My Life by the Old Joint Stock Theatre Company have pulled out this delightful hour of the real Hepburn life.
Mathew Lombardo’s celebrated play Tea at Five featured at The Burrow at The Warren and what a perfect set and venue it was for this little gem. We are invited, at 5, to join Kate as she regales us with her feelings and thoughts on where and how she is. A trip down Broadway, Hollywood Boulevard and memory lane, this is an interesting perspective on this greatest of movie stars. We sit around the huge hearth in the Warren which transforms to the Hepburn Estate ‘Fenwick’ before She sweeps in, full of trousers and concern but utterly charming.
The polish on this show is as well buffed as the silver teapot that Hepburn serves tea from at one point, it’s reflective glare highlights not only the gloss of Hepburn but also the cracks and vulnerability of this tremendous tremulous women, all swishing trousers, bravado and trembling lip we get to see Hepburn at two points in her life, early on during her stellar rise and much later as an older woman, still in demand but much further in decline and doubt.
Meghan Lloyd gives us a remarkable Hepburn and I was charmed by her poise, graceful deportment, perfectly judged arch asides and worrying twitches, this was women as force of nature, but also as tender private rose and Lloyd worked hard to present a well-rounded character. I was delighted by this performance my only criticism though is why no voice? Although the elegant pronunciation of Hepburn was spot on, her glazed precise form of speech nailed, there was no hint of the gravel tones of Connecticut drawled society burr that Hepburn so famously owned. It felt like something essential was missing and I was surprised after so much work on getting it right that Lloyd didn’t attempt the tones, we surmised that to avoid parody Lloyd was directed to the mid-Atlantic received pronunciation of Hepburn’s golden cinema years.
Other than that rather surprising omission this whole show was an engaging, believable and informative afternoon in the presence of one of Hollywood’s legends. Well done Ms Lloyd, well done indeed. As Hepburn said herself ‘It’s life isn’t it? You plow ahead and make a hit. And you plow on and someone passes you. Then someone passes them. Time levels.’ Lloyd captures this attitude with perfection and just the hint of tremor, allowing the humanity of huge talent and humility to combine in just the right subtle way.
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