Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me
Kiln, London, until November 26
Under the inspirational leadership of Indhu Rubasingham, the Kiln in north London was not so long ago one of the great power houses of British theatre
with its shows transferring – once simultaneously – to the West End and
Broadway. Just lately, it appears to have run out of ideas.
After repeating its production of Handbagged, it’s now repeating Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me following a regional tour. It can only be a matter of time before Adrian Lester and Red Velvet come back again as part of what is starting to look like the Kiln’s Greatest Hits season.
I don’t dispute that Amy Trigg’s play about life with spina bifida is a tremendous piece of writing and acting – and I said as much when I first
reviewed it here the summer before last – but repeats are for television, not for theatres with pretensions to be cutting edge. Surely to God the Kiln can find some exciting new writing out there?
In a fair and just world this production, directed by Charlotte Bennett, should, of course, have headed off not for the regions but for the West End and maybe even a television adaptation. I dare say, going back six or seven years or earlier, that might have been possible even in the commercial theatre. There have, after all, been plays about people with disabilities such as A Day in the Death of Joe Egg that have done very well for themselves in the centre of town.
Maybe it’s our politics over-spilling, but it seems to me that sensitive, intelligent drama about minorities is being increasingly kettled. Difference just doesn’t seem to be fashionable any more.
