Roots - Royal Exchange - 04/02/08 by Matthew Berrisford

There’s a great moment in the animated sit-com Family Guy when the dumbstruck Griffin Family visit The Old Vic to watch a traditional British farce:

“He’s been oogling the boogly!” cries one stage actor.

“Oogled the boogly!?” replies another.

And that’s about as much sense as I could make of Roots – Arnold Wesker’s kitchen-sink ‘classic’ now playing at The Royal Exchange.

Written in 1958, Roots is a slow-burning character piece about a young girl, Beattie, who moves from Norfolk to London and then returns several years later to tell her family that she’s fallen in love. Not only this, but she also has a headful of new ideas about art, politics and culture – hardly the conversational mainstay of her traditional farming family. Needless to say, conflicting views ensue.

There are a few problems with Roots, specifically with this performance: Firstly, it’s boring. At close to three hours, audience members are likely to achieve a meditative state not witnessed since the previous reincarnation of the Dalai Lama whipped-off his frock and ascended to the heavens. It really is too long.

The dialogue is naturalistic and, in parts, funny. But recent TV programmes such as The Royle Family and Shameless have shown that the everyday tongue can be crafted into something sublime with brevity. The three acts of Roots linger unnecessarily and, in my opinion, don’t pay-off.

Secondly, and most unfortunately, Claire Brown as the head-strong Beattie is dreadful. Her muddled accent frequently slipped from West Country to Australian to South African – everything but Norfolk! It was as if Little Britain’s Vicky Pollard had been cast as Eliza from My Fair Lady.

Her performance also suffocated Beattie’s more endearing qualities. Rather than appearing as an excited young woman who had just tasted social and intellectual liberation, Beattie came across as a spoilt, irritating brat with little appreciation of others. In an ideal world, I imagine that her character would be more akin to Lisa Simpson; self-righteous but sincere and charming.

I don’t mean to be all doom and gloom. Denise Black as the family matriarch, Mrs Bryant, filled her role perfectly; seemingly possessed by her character’s strength, frustration and love. Likewise, Owen Oakeshott’s performance as Jimmy Beales was brief but entertaining.

Still, this play is hard work. Its politics, as relevant today as they were revolutionary in 1958, tenuously drive this overlong character piece without rewarding the audience and its final execution, I’m afraid to say, is poor.