Piano Forte

If you have never seen a Terry Johnson play, you are depriving yourself of a theatrical treat. Michael Frayn, no slouch when it comes to playwriting himself, rates Terry Johnson as one of the finest around. Johnson tackles themes that might daunt lesser talented writers but always with a wicked sense of humour and some highly imaginative coup de theatre. Piano Forte at the Royal Court is the latest of his plays to appear in the West End and certainly is a great addition to his canon.

The play opens with a poetic monologue describing what seems to be a suicide. The monologue is delivered by the Australian uncle (beautifully played by Danny Webb). The opening is enigmatic, the uncle is enigmatic and, as the play proceeds on its way, enigmas abound.

The single set is an English country manor house with a sweeping staircase up to a landing ,which cuts across huge floor to ceiling windows. There is an entrance stage right to the garden (stage directions are always given from the viewpoint of the actor) and stage left leads to the rest of the house. The main door is located up stage centre, underneath the landing formed by the staircase. Between the main door and the foot of the stairs is a grand piano. It is important to grasp the solidity of the setting, because, as in virtually all his plays, Johnson is going to show you that nothing is as solid as it appears at first.

Seated at the piano, and playing quietly and expertly to herself, is Abigail (Alicia Witt), the mentally unstable daughter of a Tory MP, who is about to be married for the third time (the MP not the daughter). Abigail's mother, the first wife, apparently killed herself after suffering from acute depression most of her life. The mother was a concert pianist and obviously Abigail has inherited some of her traits, in more ways than one. The Australian uncle has remained to look after the house for his brother-in-law. even though there is a family waiting in Australia.

Into this tranquil but somewhat gloomy setting bursts Louise (Kelly Reilly), the gloriously rebellious, "drug-munching, self-analysing, libidinous" other daughter. Amongst Louise's first actions are to destroy a full length family portrait hanging on the staircase and then, topless, to greet her father and her new about- to -be - stepmother.

It is obvious that Louise blames her father for the death of her mother two decades earlier and she may even have witnessed the event.

This plot scenario makes the play sound more gloomy and more Ibsenesque than it is. Terry Johnson loves playing mind games and his script is very funny. The introduction of two acrobats into the wedding proceedings is a pure Johnson moment and yet is a perfectly logical development of the situations created.

A Terry Johnson play is always worth looking out for and Piano Forte is no exception.