A Passionate Woman – The Ultimate Mellor Tribute

To say I am a Kay Mellor fan would be an abject lie: I know little of this Leeds lass. However, to say I had not missed out on A Passionate Woman for more than three decades would be the bigger lie!

Having witnessed the late writer’s award-winning play for the first time at Leeds Playhouse last night, I have to compliment this brilliant piece of captivating theatre and Tess Seddon’s magical direction.

But, without the equally talented set and costume designer, Rose Revitt – winner of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design in 2019 – this would have been a lesser production: a true collaboration and a genuinely symbiotic relationship. The play delivered and was beautifully cast.

‘Small handers’ – there were just four actors – are tricky in that quality scripts of this type have to be crammed full of creative language, themes or humour if they are to have any chance of succeeding, but still be long enough to make for a durable performance whilst not being seduced into becoming a burdensome monologue. Few writers achieve this.

To some extent Mellor was onto a winner because her script originally premiered in Leeds and was full of references from the city. However, her characters transcend geographical boundaries and speak of the human condition, which is why A Passionate Woman played the West End and toured internationally: all creeds and colours can relate to its themes.

Betty (Katherine Dow Blyton) is the passionate, doting mother who, on the day of her son’s wedding, locks herself in the loft as she struggles to accept that he’s leaving home. Memories of her glorious youth and love affair with a Polish neighbour flood back along with laughter and regret. She was superb and a worthy anchor to the entire play.

As Seddon points out – and I agree – there are laugh-out-loud moments which juxtaposition with moments of regret and loss: one minute you are laughing and then, seconds later, feeling slightly embarrassed, when the mood changes, that you have been belly laughing at something that is so deadly serious: regret of a life less lived, the cruelty of age or simply being alone in a marriage.

Tom Lorcan as Mark, Betty’s son, was great and David Crellin as Betty’s time worn inattentive husband, Donald, was moments away from turning into the sardonic Leonard Rossiter from Rising Damp! Wonderful.

In the first half we were in a house loft and in Act II on a house roof but, thanks to Revitt’s brilliant set and Seddon’s great direction – along with a seamless cast – there was never a dull moment and if a tribute were needed to the late Kay Mellor, then this play was more effective then any church service could ever have been.