Review: Frankland and Son, Camden’s People’s Theater

Frankland and Son at the Camden’s People’s Theater is a simple, perhaps simplistic tale. John and Tom Frankland are the (real life) father and son in question and are a likable pair, if a little too inoffensive. The play focuses on the Frankland’s family tree and the slow discovery of the past through old, forgotten letters.

It’s the beginning of the run for Frankland and Son and the pair hope to garner and accumulate family experiences from the audience building and developing the play as time goes on. However, and I feel bad saying this, there are two fundamental problems with the play.

The first is the audience participation. It’s ok for polished performers like Mark Thomas with a focused idea, like his best selling Manifesto tour, to draw on the ideas and enthusiasms of his audience because he generates that enthusiasm and has a following brimming with ‘things’ they want to say.

When you’re a smaller act with a rather unfocused theme the audience is often left slightly disconcerted by being asked to contribute without really knowing why and the performers are occasionally visibly disappointed in the audience.

Where once participation felt edgy and innovative today it sometimes feels difficult to find a smaller production where you wont be harassed or questioned as part of an act who wants to pad their show. As an intensely shy and private person even the hint that I *might* be asked to take part in a play utterly ruins it for me immediately and irrevocably.

OK, OK, I know there are some people who relish it and others who are willing to put up with it, but being asked to make weak, purposeless contributions essentially for the sake of filling in time is not a great use of time or energy. It felt like the kind of idea that sounded good in theory, at the planning stage, but was never really worked into the concept of the show and was always expendable.

The second problem is the thing itself.

I know that people’s family histories are fascinating to them. I know that. I also know that I don’t want to hear about when a stranger’s aunt died, his Mum was born, his parents got married and a host of other dates that add nothing to the wisdom of the ages. I’m not that interested in the year *I* was born let alone the year a performer’s sister was birthed.

You can weave an interesting tale from family histories, absolutely, but not with the dry genealogical dates that were embedded in the format of the show. I’m sure they were all lovely people, I’m sure the performers are very nice, but I’m afraid they had little to nothing to say.

In the second half of the show there is a “shocking” reveal which, again, could have been interesting if it had been accompanied by any actual emotional content – something that is hinted at only once (in the reading of an imaginary letter). We’re never shown why the secret was important, how it made people feel or what it really meant about the past. What moments needed reinterpretation? What relationships were soured or sweetened? Who knew, who suspected, did it gnaw at their guts or pass over them leaving them untouched?

Where was the blood or the sweat of the moment? And if there was none then, well, why tell us?

While we were told this was a shocking secret and I can certainly imagine it might be shocking (although not unusual) I simply didn’t see its emotional effects – even though I’m sure they were present. For me that left the entire thing verging on the self indulgent and I honestly could not recommend it even though I wish the pair success in other ventures.

Ultimately this show drifted and plodded with a few half formed ideas that were generally a matter of theatrical devices devoid of sincerity. For those who still fancy finding out for themselves (and other reviewers have been more generous) Frankland and Son is at the Camden People’s Theater until January 28th when it begins a tour around the country.