Amy's View

Synopsis

Love, art tragedy, loyalty, ambition and the passing of eras in our own recent history all intermingle in this masterpiece from the author of The Absence of War, Racing Demon and (with Howard Brenton Pravda). Originally performed by the Royal National Theatre and on Broadway Amy's View follows the relationship between Amy Thomas, the man in her life and her eccentric actress mother, as it develops through a decade and a half of social change and growing maturity - from the passionate idealism of the 70s, through the self-promoting cynicism of the 80s and 90s when, at last, it might just be possible to find redemption of a sort through acceptance of 'Amy's view'.

Our Review:

15 November 2010

"I think this is more a women's play than a man's," I overheard in the interval and few would disagree although there is plenty here to draw in audiences of both sexes. Writer David Hare wrote that Amy’s View was intended "to put modern women’s lives on the stage in a way which I hope women might recognise" and succeeds as credible portrait of life at the end of the 20th century.

Covering a sixteen year span this mini-saga, set against the background of the Thatcher years, charts the increasingly brittle relationship between West End actress Esme and her daughter Amy. The catalyst is Amy’s new boyfriend Dominic, a would-be film director starting to make a name for himself as a movie journalist. To him the theatre is elitist and "dead"; film the new media with relevance to the modern audience. His uncompromising and smug self-belief irritates Esme who views the stage as the superior art form.

As Dominic’s star rises Esme...

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