There are five books which have come to be called The Forsyte Saga, plus another five written later, recounting the lives and loves of the family from the 1880s until the 1920s. In 2015 Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan were asked to adapt them from Galsworthy’s novels for a BBC Radio drama serial lasting fifteen hours, and they have now refined the earlier novels into two 150 minute stage plays, Irene and Fleur.
In the first of these we are introduced to Soames Forsyte, an unimaginative, intense and possessive but upright young man, very Victorian in outlook, who still clings to the view that a wife is her husband’s property. His wife is Irene, strikingly beautiful yet unhappily married and based on Galsworthy’s own wife, Ada. In Joseph Millson’s hands, Soames is on the one hand a character that we loathe, on the other he comes across as sympathetic – almost a pawn in the system of society at the time. Fiona Hampton makes a very striking Irene, as upright in stature as Soames is, yet very much a woman of the twentieth century rather than the nineteenth. In this adaptation a narrator is used to quickly forward the plot in the shape of Fleur Forsyte, not actually born yet, and the daughter of Soames’ second marriage to a French Soho shop girl, Annette Lamotte, vivaciously played by Florence Roberts. We also meet the architect of Soames’ new country house, Philip Bosinney, a characterful portrayal by Andy Rush. Without giving anything away, for those who have never read all ten novels (!), the book and the first play race headlong to a terrific conclusion which leaves one desperate to know what happens next!
Irene does stand alone, but most will want to see the second play, Fleur, which takes place in the early 1920s. This seems to be written in a different style to Irene, not using a narrator, and seeming less overtly intense – until the end!
Here we meet Fleur herself, a striking performance by Flora Spencer-Longhurst. She falls possessively in love with Jon Forsyte (another superb portrayal by Andy Rush), Irene’s son by her marriage to Jolyon (a wonderfully warm characterisation from Michael Lumsden), but Irene fears that she is too much like her father, Soames, for the marriage to be successful. Fleur does not have quite the intensity that Irene has, especially in Act One, but overall is compulsive viewing and time flies by!
These two plays have the benefit of a superb ensemble of actors who excel in creating the period and style necessary, even if some are unable to age believably over the course of the forty years that the plays cover! Those not so far mentioned include Nigel Hastings, Fiona Hampton, Emma Amos and Jamie Wilkes, each being very convincing in their various roles.
Josh Roche is responsible for directing both plays, allowing the actors free reign in their use of the large acting area whilst ensuring that the whole production has a great sense of style and energy. Some of the set pieces, such as the punting scene, are very imaginative – there are many others but to illustrate them would give away too much plot! Set design (Anna Yates) is simple but striking: a gorgeous rich red carpet plus a velvet curtain as backdrop for Irene. The way the curtain is gradually “put away” at the end of Irene is very imaginative and subtle, redolent of the whole Saga. Anna has also designed some inventive period costumes which quickly give us, the audience, an indication of character as well as period. For a change I found the underscoring/soundscape (Max Pappenheim) unobtrusive and helpful and Alex Musgrave has undertaken a mammoth task in trying to light all areas of the thrust stage whenever necessary, as well as invoking the appropriate mood.
What else is there to say? Well, firstly these two plays are a “must see”! The level of commitment from all concerned is at the very highest level. Secondly, see both plays in the correct order if you can. If you see Fleur first you may well be “lost” until you see Irene (no matter what the publicity says!). If you only have time to see one play, make it Irene – then you will want to move Heaven and Earth to see Fleur, of which there appear to be few matinee performances!
Very highly recommended – GO!
Review by John Groves
‘’Now I know what Soames did, what my father did, I will never be able to not know it.’’
London, 1886. Wealthy solicitor Soames Forsyte is a man of property, and his beautiful wife Irene is his most prized possession.When he commissions an architect to build him a house in which to keep her, the cracks intheir marriage finally begin to show, until something happens so shocking that it tears the Forsyte family apart. Years later, Soames’ daughter Fleur is haunted by the family secret when history begins to repeat itself…
John Galsworthy’s classic story The Forsyte Saga is newly dramatised for the stage in two parts by Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan, bringing the unheard female voices to the fore for the first time. Spanning 40 years from the last gasp of the Victorian age to the beginning of the roaring 1920s, this is an epic tale of sex, money and power.The Forsyte Sagawas famously televised by the BBC in 1967 and was again serialised by ITV in 2002. Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan adapted the novels for BBC Radio 4 in 2016 under the title The Forsytes.
Cast: Emma Amos (Emily Forsyte, Juley Forsyte, June Forsyte and Holly Forsyte), Fiona Hampton (Irene Forsyte), Nigel Hastings (James Forsyte and Jo Forsyte), Michael Lumsden (Jolyon Forsyte, Swithin Forsyte, Doctor, Prosper Profond, Riggs and Harold Blade), Joseph Millson (Soames Forsyte), Florence Roberts (June Forsyte, Annette Forsyte and Anne Forsyte), Andy Rush (Philip Bosinney, Polteed and Jon Forsyte), Flora Spencer-Longhurst (Fleur Forsyte) and Jamie Wilkes (Jo Forsyte, Policeman and Michael Mont)
Director: Josh Roche, Set and Costume Designer: Anna Yates, Lighting Designer: Alex Musgrave, Sound Designer and Composer: Max Pappenheim, Movement Director: Patrice Bowler
Ashley Cook for Troupe in association with Park Theatre presents the world première of a new adaptation of
THE FORSYTE SAGA
By John Galsworthy
Adapted by Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan
11 October – 7 December 2024
Park Theatre, Park 200
Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP
https://parktheatre.co.uk/
John Groves John Groves studied singing with Robert Easton and conducting with Clive Timms. He was lucky enough to act in the British premiere of a Strindberg play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe more years ago than he cares to remember, as well as singing at the Royal Opera House - once!He taught drama and music at several schools, as well as examining the practical aspects of GCSE and A level drama for many years. For twenty five years he has conducted a brass band as well as living on one of the highest points of East Sussex surrounded by woodland, deer, foxes and badgers, with kites and buzzards flying overhead. View all posts