A Miracle
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''A Miracle'' by
Molly Davies Molly Davies is a British playwright originally from Norfolk but now living in London. A graduate of the University of Kent at Canterbury, she is currently writing and works part-time as a teacher. Davies is a product of the Royal Court Theat ...
was her first professionally staged play and was staged first at the upstairs Jerwood Theatre at
Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...
in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 2009 as part of the theatre's Young Writers Festival. It starred
Russell Tovey Russell George Tovey (born 14 November 1981) is a British actor. He is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural comedy-drama '' Being Human'', Rudge in both the stage and film versions of '' The History ...
,
Kate O'Flynn Kate O'Flynn (born 1986) is a British actress. She is known for her performance in National Theatre's production of ''Port'' for which she received a Critics' Circle Theatre Award in 2013, as well as starring roles in plays '' A Taste of Honey ...
,
Sorcha Cusack Sorcha Cusack (; born 9 April 1949) is an Irish television and stage actress. Her numerous television credits include playing the title role in ''Jane Eyre'' (1973), '' Casualty'' (1994–1997), ''Coronation Street'' (2008) and '' Father Brown' ...
and
Gerard Horan Gerard James Pertwee Horan (born 11 November 1962) is a British actor. He is known for playing Terry Seymour the leader of the DMDC (Danebury Metal Detectoring Club) in the BAFTA award-winning comedy drama ''Detectorists'' and for playing Firef ...
.


Overview

The plot follows the struggle of a teenage single mother, Amy Aston, to bond with her unwanted baby daughter Cara in rural Norfolk. Amy works at a chicken factory whilst her grandmother, Val, looks after the child. The young mother begins a tumultuous relationship with Gary Trudgill, a violent and traumatised soldier on sick leave from the Army. Gary's outbursts, in part a response to the treatment he receives from his own father, Rob, threaten to harm the child. The play ends on a potentially helpful note, with baby Cara's survival being the miracle of the play's title.


Cast

* Amy Aston:
Kate O'Flynn Kate O'Flynn (born 1986) is a British actress. She is known for her performance in National Theatre's production of ''Port'' for which she received a Critics' Circle Theatre Award in 2013, as well as starring roles in plays '' A Taste of Honey ...
* Gary Trudgill:
Russell Tovey Russell George Tovey (born 14 November 1981) is a British actor. He is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural comedy-drama '' Being Human'', Rudge in both the stage and film versions of '' The History ...
* Val, Amy's grandmother:
Sorcha Cusack Sorcha Cusack (; born 9 April 1949) is an Irish television and stage actress. Her numerous television credits include playing the title role in ''Jane Eyre'' (1973), '' Casualty'' (1994–1997), ''Coronation Street'' (2008) and '' Father Brown' ...
* Rob, Gary's father:
Gerard Horan Gerard James Pertwee Horan (born 11 November 1962) is a British actor. He is known for playing Terry Seymour the leader of the DMDC (Danebury Metal Detectoring Club) in the BAFTA award-winning comedy drama ''Detectorists'' and for playing Firef ...


Critical reception

Writing in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'', Charles Spencer began by saying, "I'm in a tricky position here. There is nothing I can say about Molly Davies's remarkable play ''A Miracle'' that is going to make you want to see it. Almost throughout its 75 minute running time (it feels much longer) I was desperate to get out of the theatre myself", before adding, "But this is emphatically a drama that deserves and needs to be seen, not least by those politicians who endlessly bang on about our broken society". Spencer recalled that, "Babies don't tend to survive for long in Royal Court plays (Remember Edward Bond's '' Saved''?) and poor Cara spends much of the time crying, horribly realistically, in her buggy, shredding the nerves of every parent in the audience", but found, "It's worth enduring, though, not only for the power and truth of both writing and performances, but also for the tentative glimmer of hope at the end". Assessing the cast's performances, he judged that "Kate O'Flynn brings an astonishingly raw vulnerability to the stage as Amy €¦Sorcha Cusack plays the grandmother with a robust humanity that warms this punishing play; Russell Tovey has a terrifying touch of the psycho about him as the squaddie, while Gerard Horton as his father shows how man hands on misery to man". Spencer concluded his review by writing, "With a bleakly atmospheric rural design by Patrick Burnier that is so real you can actually smell it and a tense, gutsy production by Lyndsey Turner, this proves a shattering full-length debut by 26-year-old Molly Davies". Reviewing the play for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', Michael Billington gave it 3 stars out of five, saying that "while Molly Davies's writing shows real flair in its bony, Bond-like spareness and unnerving hints of violence, her play remains trapped inside the fashionable 70-minute format". He found that "Davies's strength is her feel for character and place" but also that "the characters lapse into self pity €¦.. Billington judged that " €¦ her dialogue has that wry, laconic quality you often find in East Anglian plays" adding that "Davies also vividly captures Amy's muddled feelings about motherhood: her resentment of an unwanted child combined with irrepressible familial instinct". He concluded his review by noting, "Even if this is only the sketch for the richer play Davies will one day write, she is well served by Lyndsey Turner's Theatre Upstairs production. Kate O'Flynn's Amy is a model of gawky despair while Russell Tovey's Gary has an edge of violence that, with memories of Bond's ''Saved'' in mind, makes you fear for the baby's survival. Sorcha Cusack as the commonsensical gran and Gerard Horan as an embittered victim of rural blight fill out a play that provides plenty of evidence of youthful talent but that also leaves you wanting more. Perhaps one day Davies might take the plunge and write a two act play". In the ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'',
Nicholas de Jongh Nicholas de Jongh is a British writer, theatre critic and playwright. He served as the senior drama critic of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1991 to 2009. Prior to that, he had worked for ''The Guardian'' for almost 20 years. In 2008, de Jongh ...
began his 4-star review by saying, "It may be set in a Norfolk village last year but Molly Davies's highly promising, first full-length play reminds me irresistibly of Edward Bond's 44-year-old ''Saved'' without the violence. In 28 scenes and 80 minutes Miss Davies offers a rural complement to Bond's landscape-vision of down-and-out south Londoners. She shows a flair for creating believable characters, who speak in a terse, unembroidered Norfolk dialect that left me wishing for surtitles". He praised both "Kate O'Flynn's beautiful rendering of passivity, selfishness and vulnerability" and the "fine, lumbering incoherence" of Russell Tovey's portrayal of Gary. De Jongh also noted the "alienated aggression" brought to the part of Gary's father by Gerard Horan, adding "Sorcha Cusack's believable Gran offers the only ray of cheerfulness". He judged that "Lyndsey Turner's in-the-round production on a stage needlessly carpeted with turf offers annoyingly impeded views, though scenes flow with seamless ease" but concluded his review by saying simply "Compelling".


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miracle 2009 plays English plays