Dear Octopus

Lyttelton – National Theatre, 24/02/24

Credit: Marc Brenner

Final rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Lindsay Duncan is a joy to watch in this 'best of British' comedy set in the run up to the Second World War. Dodie Smith’s play is little performed – she is of course well known as the author of Hundred And One Dalmatians – but this is a quaint and subtle ode to family life.

The spinning set rotates to show us a family dinner; atmos, music and laughter, before rotating all the way round to the other side of the door and leaving us with the maid, Fenny (played by the fantastic Bessie Carter). We are slowly drip fed introductions to each of the family members, and all have enough personality carved out to make them recognisable enough. Malcom Sinclair as Charles delivered a notably reliable performance to help the audience through the sometimes confusing dialogue. Duncan’s Dora was the charming grandmother, intent on finding little odd jobs for everyone as her house filled up with all the family members, and there was something so enjoyable and familiar about this that you couldn’t help but laugh every time it happened. I also enjoyed Jo Herbert’s neurotic Hilda who had a great scene with a knife at the dinner table.

Billy Howle’s Nicholas also delighted as the bumbling buffoon son, trotting through life with privilege and good manners, and fairly early on we are introduced to the love interest in the plot: himself and the maid Fenny. Though we witness Fenny’s fondness for him unravel, our sense of willingness for a happy ending never dissipates and it is this feat that I think the acting of the performance excels. Having said that, we do slowly plod towards the interval without very much actually happening other than introductions and set up.

The set is beautifully designed, simple and effective – and it allowed for some great comic moments, like Dora declaring a disdain for electric only for the gas lamp to start smoking a few moments later. The laughs were scattered throughout the dialogue in good measure, if nothing else to help break up the often long and complicated conversations between siblings and relatives unfolding.

The grand finale moment culminated in Nicholas’ speech at the final dinner, where he delivered rousing words about togetherness and the importance of family (and all fairly predictable really), before eventually proposing to Fenny. It felt wholly satisfying to get a happy ending in this way and the cast had all played their part to keep us unsure as to whether it would happen. Though one is left to ponder how happy an ending it is, with Nicholas only proposing after stern words from his father.

Overall it was a delight to watch this cast explore themes of ageing and family in a lightly comic fashion, but I’m not sure how strong of a script it is to translate as well with an alternative cast. Though enjoyable, not a lot actually happens, which leaves the actors with an awful lot to do.