Plays spun from the lives of literary figures seem to be on the increase, perhaps because we feel we have instant entry to their private thoughts, at least as they have been aired in the publishing process.

Amy Rosenthal’s bright new play however, says less about the writers involved than the strenuous and deeply comic stresses of friendship and love. We are faced with D H Lawrence and Frieda at the time when they attempt community living with Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murry on a remote part of the Cornish coast in the middle of World War I.

If these names were lost for some of us in the general blur of distant English studies, the play would still stand strong as a collection of frequently captivating scenes, so that director Lara Macgregor can be well pleased with the ‘complex dynamics’ she refers to in her programme welcome.

Domestic disputes are irresistible material for drama and from the opening moments when Lawrence’s miserable palsied fingers prevent his writing, while an insouciant Frieda chomps on her apple, comedy is the chosen perspective. This has the effect of distancing us a little and the play does seem to take a good time to settle, with much business at the cost of real engagement with the characters.

As the suspicious outer world closes in and the tension between Lawrence’s hoped for ideal and practical reality becomes clear, the play gains immeasurably and moves to an absorbing climax.

The driving force is Lawrence, played with robust conviction by Jon Pheloung. We do not see the poet, or even the writer, so much as a passionate bid for self determination, trust and the harmony of a natural life.

His passion is echoed and enhanced by the omnivorous appetites of Ali Harper’s Frieda. Moreover, since she is German, she is the target of the wider world’s mistrust, enhancing the precariousness of the Lawrentian stand. The energy and warmth we have seen from Harper in musicals translates into a vivid role here and some of the inevitable poignant moments are hers.

Balancing this hectic couple are the urbanites, Mansfield and Middleton Murry. As Katherine, Claire Dougan achieves a crisp precision and the sense of a watchful observer, whose ways with words are incisive and at times deliciously acid.

Middleton Murry, played cleverly by Jason Whyte, is all reason and reserve. The wrestling scene with Lawrence, where he is forced into spontaneity, presents a wonderful metaphor for the attraction and potency generated by opposing forces. 

Harold Moot’s composite set presents elements of two cottages, an unlikely vegetable patch and a useful skyscape for Josh major’s lighting and Anna Dodgshun’s sound to embellish, while Jenny Cunningham’s excellent costuming confirms both period and character with authority.

Four strong characters then, sometimes paired, sometimes trying to exist as a foursome with the inevitable comic results, provide a unifying overview, although somewhere in there flickers also the need of the artist to be alone. Although Lawrence and Frieda will have to move on and the vision of harmony has not quite succeeded this time, there have been honest insights on the way.
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