How to Hold Your Breath review, Royal Court Theatre

So you sit through two hours of a play that is amusing and magical and has started a bit like The Master and Margarita with Satan appearing as a dashing, bearded, Richard Branson lookalike who runs a bit of the UN and unwittingly wins the heart of a sexy blonde with whom he's had a one night stand in Berlin. But then the blonde and her sister (Dana and Jasmine) are cut adrift as they travel to Alexandria, and because Dana refuses to prostitute herself for Satan she is driven through the worst privations in European history - war, hunger, poverty and abandonment. And then she has to learn How to Hold Your Breath because the final hurdle pitches her to the depths of endurance.

It must be admitted that it was not till this point in the play - about ten minutes before the end - that I realised the women might not be Brits working their way across Europe but immigrants seeking safe haven in Alexandria. This is because How to Hold Your Breath is low on context from the first scene onwards. This problem is offset to some degree by Maxine Peake's superb performance as Dana. She's mesmeric; but her Dana is as 3D peachy pale as the average Royal Court audience, and has a designer haircut I admired all the way through, and does not look even vaguely East European, let alone Middle-Eastern or African, which is the usual type seeking first world kindness. Why is that? Would no swarthy or dark-skinned actor prostitute themselves to take the role, or is the choice ironic: the director favouring what we know, and lip service being enough?

Someone cleverer or better connected than me will unpack How to Hold Your Breath and explain it at some point, and it may be worth holding on for that before buying a ticket because the blurb on the Royal Court website, which is all I had, did not aid my understanding one jot. Zinnie Harris's play is described as a twisted exploration of how we live now in which the protagonists discover the true cost of principles. Is it personal or international principles, and what do we learn about our insularity and limited world view (and therefore empathy) that isn't ironically listed on the Twitter hashtag #firstworldproblems?

In conclusion: How to Hold Your Breath is intriguing and is beautifully staged by Vicky Featherstone and Peake is excellent, as are Michael Shaeffer and Peter Forbes. There are funny moments and the stage is used to full effect, but there is too much blind exploration and too little exposition. For this reviewer, it was too much hard work for too little reward.

References:
Royal Court, Tickets


Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London  SW3.  Run ends 21 March