Review: WHEN IT HAPPENS TO YOU at Park Theatre, London

 

Photo credit: Mark Douet

Date: 6th August 2024

Seat: F1

Tickets: Gifted

Rating: 4 Stars

Like all the best plays, When It Happens To You seems simple at first – the sparse set, the lack of props, the small cast… it all adds up to a quick (the entire run-time is only 85 minutes without any interval) story told well. 

However, like all the best plays, that’s just the surface level. There’s so much more underneath, and writer Tawni O’Dell has packed a huge amount into her autobiographical play that’s a harrowing but also profoundly moving and perhaps even uplifting exploration of the aftermath of sexual assault. 

There might not be much in the way of set – although a soothing blue cityscape does tower over everyone and everything – but that’s the point; this is a story about people, not things and, even though specific cities are involved, not really places either. The entire point is that this can happen to you, no matter who you are or where you are. It can happen to someone you know. Maybe it already has. That word ‘when’ in the title has a chilling meaning. 

Photo credit: Mark Douet

The play centres on Tara’s (Amanda Abbington) journey through trauma, specifically the fallout after her daughter is raped, and it deftly showcases the devastating impact of sexual violence not just on the victim, but on their family and friends too. O'Dell's writing is unflinchingly honest, a stark and uncomfortable portrayal of how raw the emotions are and yet how women hold them inside for fear of offending people. It’s shocking, yet, once the initial idea has settled, it’s clear that it’s all too true. 

The cast is universally outstanding, with Amanda Abbington giving a beautiful performance as Tara, a mother caught between trying to do the best for her broken daughter and trying to manage her own life, and her own trauma. Her portrayal captures the complexity of so many emotions, moving from vulnerability to flashes of defiant strength, all with a real-feeling current of deep, deep love for her family running through everything. I’d never seen Abbington on stage before, and I walked away feeling as though I’d just watched one of the best performances of the year so far. 

As Esme, Rosie Day is exceptional, and it’s not just how she speaks and the way she goes from zero to one hundred miles an hour in an instant, triggered by the smallest thing; it’s her physicality as well – she’s wrapped up in herself, and it’s heartbreaking to watch. 

As Connor, Tara’s seemingly perfect son, Miles Molan comes across as a likable, sweet character, but he’s just as able to show emotion as the women, even if the character tries to hide it as much as he can because of a misguided sense of what strength is. 

Tok Stephen plays a variety of other characters, and what I loved about his performance was that each one was separate – they had different accents, and different mannerisms, and even the addition of a suit jacket was enough to set them apart from one another. Being able to switch from part to part like that can’t be easy, but Stephen does it seamlessly. 

Photo credit: Mark Douet

In the end, When It Happens To You’s strength lies in its unflinching portrayal of the long-term effects of sexual assault. O'Dell refuses to shy away from depicting the ongoing struggle for normalcy and the constant battle with memories that refuse to fade, and it’s about resilience and hope as much as anything else. 

Like all the best plays, When It Happens To You might not be a comfortable watch, but it’s a necessary one. 

When It Happens To You plays at Park Theatre, London, until 31^st August 2024: https://parktheatre.co.uk/event/when-it-happens-to-you/