Review: The Croft, Everyman Theatre

We invited local theatre enthusiast and journalist student, Emily Redman, to review the opening night of The Croft at the Everyman Theatre.  Tickets are still available for this evening and tomorrow, Saturday 25 January, for both a matinee and evening performance. Read on to find out what Emily thought of this thrilling new play...

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Ali Milles’ debut play, The Croft, is a discreetly feminist production, swaying back and forth between 1870 to 2020. The thriller remains inside the Scottish Croft: “A little tin hut in the middle of nowhere” as the audience watch a haunting story of resilience, pain and loss unfold. 

The relationship between Mum-of-two Suzanne (Caroline Harker) and Laura (Lucy Doyle) is intense. Laura’s relentless energy and impulsiveness only highlights their inevitably problematic age gap. She hides her pain for her mother’s death, yet it festers throughout.

Doyle manages to encapsulate parts of the grieving process perfectly, her emotions raw and relatable. She’s confused, angry, desperately looking for someone to blame for her mother’s death. Laura is a young woman, determined to stay strong but constantly on the verge of self-destruction.

Enid (Gwen Taylor) is equally as strong: “This world isn’t made for women who won’t submit.” She haunts the Croft with her own pain and suffering. Enid manages to send chills through the spines of the characters and the audience alike, even when you can’t see her. Her presence is powerful and her story is a microcosm of the female struggle in the Victorian era.

Eilene, Enid, Laura and her mum are bound to a house so wrapped up in anguish and disappointment yet they can’t let go. Laura is a catalyst for the two stories, she and Enid feeling the same connection to the house. The men in the play can’t understand, and the women can’t explain but centuries pass and their grip on the Croft only tightens. 

There’s seemingly random chanting at times in the play, which seems like Milles has sprinkled in some more horror for horror’s sake. It distracts from the themes of love, pain and suffering that recur and make the performance bold and brilliant. Enid is ghoulish yet intriguing, her story has so many layers but it leaves some unanswered questions. Perhaps this is intentional, but it was nonetheless confusing.  

The production, by The Original Theatre and directed by Philip Franks, moves through the years swiftly and seamlessly. Each character never lets the pace lag, all becoming an archetype of their age: a tired, bitter old woman, a young child, a guilty father or a mother, out of her depth in a haunting situation she can’t fathom. 

Caroline Harker changes her character on-stage between Laura’s mother and Laura’s lover. She’s motherly to Laura, caring for her at times in the exact way her mother did. And to watch Laura’s pain unfold is heart-breaking - she’s desperate to be loved, both by her father and her girlfriend. 

The persistent arguing throughout, both in the 1800s and today, amplifies The Croft’s power: it breaks relationships and destroys lives yet Laura and Enid can’t let go of it. Tom (Simon Roberts) plays a vicar, guilty of his past. He’s forced to face it after running for so long. In an incredible protestation of innocence. Years’ worth of pain and bitterness explode out of him in a performance that’s spectacular to watch. 

The play moves on purposefully but the ending is abrupt, and slightly random. This is forgivable though, in the bizarrely thrilling world of the secluded Scottish Highlands. 

The Croft teaches us that a house isn’t always just cement on a piece of land. It can be a magnet for ageless emotions. A house can give you an unexplainable feeling as soon as you step inside, a feeling of the spirits past before you or perhaps something else. 

This brand-new play, although confusing at times, is a beautiful exploration of incredibly difficult subjects. It uses a cast that provides a compelling and engaging performance wrapped up in a tiny world, painted full of texture and history.

Tickets for The Croft at The Everyman Theatre available here.