Nat'l Theater HANSARD a Play by Simon Woods

"Hansard" is a new play by playwright/actor Simon Woods (b UK 1980).  The National Theater Live films live productions at the National Theater and made available on large screens throughout the world.  The broadcast of this production was at the Rialto theater in Sebastopol, CA.  "Hansard" is the name of a collective of British laws dating back centuries dictating societal norms.  The play is set in 1988 in a country home belonging to a long & embittered married couple Diana & Robin Hesketh.  Diana (a stirring Lindsay Duncan) is an alcoholic & angry wife who lives outside London while her husband Robin (an animated Alex Jennings) remains in the city as a parliament member of Thatcher's Tory Party.  There is a brief prologue narrative & short film highlighting major political turmoils in the UK in 1988.  A Hansard Law passed in 1988 barred the teaching, publication or promotion of homosexuality as acceptable.  This ruling is pivotal within the play.  "Hansard" mirrors American playwright Edward Albee's "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf."  The barbs sling at each other swiftly & harshly.  The grueling, incredulous dialogue calls into question why they've remained married.  Robin's vitriol attacks Diana's drinking & slovenly dress.  Diana harangues Robin for his faux image & poor acquiescent voting under Thatcher.  Diana tells people not to vote for her husband.  She tells Robin if she carried "the weight of his words" she'd know how to utilize them.  The combative sparring depicts their unhappiness with each other and their opposing political views.  Diana derides Robin and his elite entitlement embedded in Britain's aristocratic society.  For all the couple's mounting animosity the underlying tragedy that forged their fissure packs as a poignant punch near the end of the play.  This revelation  offers the audience empathy and hope for their reconciliation.  However, it's too late in the game to mitigate contempt for this couple whose belligerent blows furiously unfurled.  Still, Duncan's & Jennings' tour-de-force performances maintain a sonorous ambience too entrancing to disengage from this feuding train-wreck.