That Face

Synopsis

Mia is at boarding school. She has access to drugs. They are Martha's. Henry is preparing for art college. He has access to alcohol. From Martha. Martha controls their lives. Martha is their mother. That Face is a powerful and darkly comic exploration of children who become parents to their parents.

Our Review:

8 October 2009

The innocuously titled That Face, written by Polly Stenham at the age of 19, revolves around the often-overlooked, behind-closed-doors world of turbulent family life and its accompanying baggage.

To designer Adam Wiltshire’s backdrop of a boarding-school dormitory, Mia Hollie Gordon, the protagonist’s daughter, initially denies involvement in the drugging of an innocent inductee with a 40mg dose of valium, only to eventually state emotionlessly that the overdose was “not poison” but rather “a mild tranquiliser”.

From here on in the tone of this clearly dysfunctional family is apparent as the scene morphs to a worn home – the expression used in the loosest of terms – replete with empty vodka bottles and vague, half-developed sketchings.

The family’s flawed relations are further highlighted by the incestual relationship – played out upon the spotlit mattress – between Martha [Kathryn How...

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