REVIEW: THE INSEPARABLES by Grace Joy Howarth at Finborough Theatre 15 April - 10 May 2025
‘Charming, moving, funny and erudite.’ ★★★★★
What theatrical gems you sometimes find in small rooms above London pubs! The inseparables is charming, moving, funny and erudite. It’s based on an autobiographical story by Simone de Beauvoir, and tells the story of a childhood friendship between Sylve Lapage (based on de Beauvoir herself) and Andrée Gallard, from the moment they meet as nine-year-olds, towards the end of the first world war. They hit it off at once, and from then on, they are close friends and the closest of confidantes, and Andree confides the loves of her life only to Sylve. And that’s it, really, until a shocking event towards the end which I won’t reveal.
There has, of course, been speculation about whether they were just friends, or also lovers. But that’s not a question that interests me, and I suspect it doesn’t much interest Grace Joy Howarth, who adapted the story for the stage. The relationship she is interested in is that between two very clever, very different girls and young women, and the ways in which they provide intellectual stimulation and emotional support to each other. At one point she half-heartedly hints there might have been sexual attraction on Sylve’s side, but one suspects Howarth put that in out of duty, because it was expected of her.
Howarth’s skill as a writer is to keep us glued to the story even while not a lot is happening – for the story itself is quite thin. That places a huge burden on the two principal actors. Unless they are very good indeed, this play will not work. Ayesha Ostler as Sylve and Lara Manela as Andrée are magnificent. There is not a moment when their relationship fails to convince. These are two accomplished, intelligent performances from young actors of whom we can hope to hear much more.
It’s not easy for an adult to play a nine-year-old on stage. Wisely, they do not try to look or sound like little girls, but they are recognisably children nonetheless, trapped in the stifling atmosphere of Catholic schools and Catholic homes. There is an almost heartbreaking moment when they meet at the start of a new term and politely ask each other if they enjoyed the holiday. “We were talking without saying anything, like grownups” comments the adult Sylve. Their relationship holds even as they start to part company intellectually and emotionally. “If you don’t believe in God, how can you bear to be alive?” Andrée asks Sylve. Andrée starts to fall in love regularly with a series of men; Sylve doesn’t.
In the best pub theatre tradition, Caroline Trowbridge and Alexandre Costet-Barmada play the character we know as Everyone Else, and they do it very well, but this is Ostler and Manela’s show. With a play that has constantly to change scenes, a director has a choice. If you are either working at somewhere like the National, you can have a revolving stage and all the other bells and whistles. Otherwise, in my view, it’s best not to do anything too complicated. Provide hints and nudges, and let the audience’s imagination do the rest. That’s the approach adopted by director Anastasia Bunce, set designer Hazel Poole Zane and lighting designer Abraham Walkling-Lea.
Their hints to the audience include a clever and effective device. A window at the back of the stage, in the centre, becomes the window through which we see the changing world of our protagonists. When we first see it, it’s a stained glass window, accompanied by sonorous organ music. But it can be whatever the scene requires: the French countryside flying past as we travel in a car, for example.
This snapshot of her youth is as good as you might expect from Simone de Beauvoir, who went on to become one of France’s leading writers, intellectuals and feminists.
THE INSEPARABLES at Finborough Theatre
Written by Grace Joy Howarth from a story by Simone de Beauvoir, translated by Lauren Elkin
15 April to 10 May
Photo credit: A.J. Halsey and Melanie Silva
Production Team
Director
Anastasia Bunce
Set Designer
Hazel Poole Zane
Lighting Designer
Abraham Walkling-Lea
Sound Designer
Flick Isaac Chilton
Movement Director
Daniela Poch
Video Designer
Jessica Brauner
Intimacy Coordinator
Justin Stirewalt
Stage Manager
Kiara Atkinson
Producer
Presented by Conjureman Productions and Inseparable Productions in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.
Cast
Alexandre Costet-Barmada
Lara Manela
Ayesha Ostler
Caroline Trowbridge
