Review of ‘Blessings’ (Riverside Studios 2025): “Sinful writing can’t take enough penitence”

The venue hosts the world premiere of Sarah Shelton’s latest play, which explores the trials and tribulations of a traditional 1960s household, whose actions have broken the moral code of the time. Guillermo Nazara shares his views on the show to let us know if this family affairs drama starring Gary Webster puts audiences at a crossroads.

It’s 1969. And she got pregnant. I guess the year didn’t inspire her to do better things with her time. We all know what happens next. The shame, the ostracism, the family despair. These are stories that we’ve heard of or even experienced hundreds of times. And yet, for some reason, they would keep them coming (no pun intended). Still, it’s not so much the premise as it is the author’s approach to it that gives their piece a chance to stand out. This was nothing of the sort, though.

It only takes 90 minutes for writer Sarah Shelton to cover the hardships of teenage pregnancy, a long-running extramarital affair, parental strain, working-class unemployment, and literally every single topic the play-of-manners catalog can offer. It’s a thematic shopping spree where all the narrative starting points have gone on sale — and as expected, the results have been considerably cheap.

Long story short. I’m not using the phrase as a linking device. It really is too much content in too little time. It’s extremely challenging to encompass so many complex plot lines altogether. Trying to do it at a quintuple speed is just delusional. There’s just not enough room for all of them — even half would be considered excessive. And it’s the writer’s solution to it that is, in fact, the main problem behind the script’s incompetence.

There are no solid character arcs throughout the recount. They might be rich in adversity, but their evolution is at a negative balance. What’s so baffling about it is that there is so much conflict to exploit. And yet, despite all the peaks and valleys they must endure, their journeys remain flat for the most part. There are no changes in their relationships, impulses, or attitudes. The whole account comes across as a rushed flash of events, where every opportunity for depth and meaning casually slips through its creator’s fingers — just like our motivation, as an audience, to keep ourselves invested in what’s going on.

There’s an adequate level of flow in the dialogue. However, its overly descriptive style compromises its naturalness, sounding too honed and poetic for the type of roles the play aims for — and basically anyone in real life. Its structural ineptitude is, nonetheless, the biggest concern. Many scenes are designed to carry the story’s tension through, allegedly, heated arguments. Yet, that can’t be achieved when you turn off the gas before the ignition has even begun. As a result, all those conversations are cut in an infuriatingly abrupt way — pretending things have escalated quickly when, actually, they’ve stayed at the very bottom for the entire time.

The cast flaunts some chemistry in their renditions while delivering their parts with grace and spontaneity. Yet, the direction puts those skills at stake — depriving them of the dramatic pulse they require to convey effect. Consequently, their interpretations come off too sterile — able to convince but making a sloppy and unsuccessful attempt at encapsulating soul, or getting into ours. In addition, the fact that several actors portray two characters in such an intimate tale feels like a sloppy choice — striving to draw some parallelisms but ultimately failing through an absence of nuance and resourcefulness.

A hodgepodge of promising ideas, Blessings‘s curse relies on its indecisiveness to put its bets on — taking every possible route and tangling them altogether into a shaggy and quite impenetrable net of inconclusive story lines and sketchy roles. As a serial play, the concept brims with potential. So far, though, they’ll need more than a prayer for this piece to work in the slightest.

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All pictures credit to Lidia Crisafulli.

Blessings plays at London’s Riverside Studios until 26 October. Tickets are available on the following link.

By Guillermo Nazara