Till the Stars Come Down at the National Theatre

Though Beth Steel received an ambivalent response to her previous work The House of Shades, it is wholly gratifying that this has not dampened her flair for writing insightful plays set in the county where she was born. 

Till the Stars Come Down is set over the course of a wedding day. The play opens in the East Midlands with Sylvia (Sinéad Matthews) preparing with sisters Maggie (Lisa McGrillis), Leanne (Ruby Stokes) and other female relatives for her wedding ceremony to Polish migrant Marek (Marc Wooton), a groom whose name Sylvia’s father Tony (Alan Williams) struggles to remember.

Initially, Sylvia believes the only snag on her wedding day is that she cannot fit into her wedding dress so needs to wear her deceased mother’s, instead.  As the day develops, though, lies, betrayal and xenophobic sentiments conspire to, as the play’s climactic ending implies, tear the family and its three sisters apart.

While there are some that will find shades of Chekhov within the family unit any time there is a reference to three sisters, there is, actually, a bristling intensity within the family more akin to Lorca or Tennessee Williams’s work, which, at times, does not always feel as amplified as it could have been.

This was most apparent during the atmospheric and stylised staging of Sylvia’s family violently turning on Marek, which could have been more chilling than it was portrayed; however, none of those deterred the audience from rising to their feet in rapturous applause at the end.

The standing ovation, though, is not just because of director Bijan Sheibani’s masterful control of the climactic moments.  From young to old, the ten-strong ensemble are all stunning performers. 

In addition, Samal Blak’s partially realistic in-the-round staging design more than invites the audience to immerse themselves into the emotional rollercoaster of a wedding day. Matt Wootton’s Marek even cajoles us into singing along with his stilted re-working of Franki Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You for his new wife. As such, it is no surprise to hear, as the audience files out, some commenting on how they were moved from having tears of laughter at the start to tears of sadness by the end.

Steel’s previous play may have achieved mixed reviews, but it will be an absolute crime if this play is seen as anything less than one of her finest achievements.

Francis Nash
Images: Manuel Harlan

Till the Stars Come Down is at the National Theatre until 16^th March 2024. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.