'The House of Mirrors and Hearts' Arcola Theatre ****

The loss of a family member will be a truly paining time; especially if the circumstances of the death remain undisclosed, besides this, what occurs when one man enables a reserved girl to come out of her shell and the secret is revealed? The Arcola Theatre’s production of Eamonn O’Dwyer and Rob Gilbert’s contemporary musical, with assistance from  Katy Lipson and Perfect Pitch, ‘The House of Mirrors and Hearts’ was a titillating piece of fringe theatre, in addition to this, the performances were enticing to witness.

‘The House of Mirrors and Hearts’ is situated in the kitchen of a family of four, however, the father who is a maker of mirrors has been brutally murdered in his workshop by his eldest daughter, the Young Laura (Sophie Pourret Wythe/Ella Doherty) by a sharp piece of mirrored glass. As you’d expect why did she kill her father? Seven years passes and Anna, the mother is still mourning for the loss of her husband and resents her daughter, Laura about the death, as well as, Laura has grown into a silent and gentle soul who hardly utters a proper exchange of words. To pay the bills, Anna has been renting her spare bedrooms and her new lodger is geeky young scholar, Nathan who is compiling a collection of his favourite poets work. Anna’s youngest daughter, Lily who is comparatively opposite to Laura as she is enormously flirtatious for a sixteen year old, moreover, her dress sense is quite sexual as she tries to use her physique to stir up trouble as a means for attention from men and her mother. This is evidenced when she attempts to seduce Nathan whilst he is working, but he pushes her away from him and when Anna’s other lodger, David (Graham Bickley) catches them in which he assumes Nathan is raping her, Nathan explains that this is not the case as Lily was drunk. Over the course of the performance, Laura becomes intrigued in Nathan’s preferential poets work and through this; it develops into a thriving and strange relationship. Furthermore, when she takes him to a place where she throws empty wine bottles against the wall there are some sweet moments present, nonetheless, Anna is worried by Laura’s newly found confidence.  Through flashbacks with Anna, Young Laura and Young Lily (Charlotte Pourret Wythe/Isabella Doherty) you can see how the family has been turned upside down due to Anna’s husband’s death and at the finale, we learn the real reason why Laura murdered her father and this is because he tried to force himself on her and have sex with his own daughter. O’Dwyer and Gilbert’s narrative and music and lyrics were excellent as the story is about an enigmatic situation where a young girl had to assassinate her own father and with such musical numbers as “Little Bird”, “Secrets & Lies”, “Catch the Light” and “Beauty in the Breaking” were exceedingly well written and captured a lot of emotion.

One found the performances by the company of, ‘The House of Mirrors and Hearts’ to be wonderfully characterised through tender and tough scenes. Gillian Kirkpatrick is splendid as alcoholic mother, Anna; mainly where you see how much she is struggling to keep her feelings inside and when she shouts at Laura it is a sense of her being able to be honest, correspondingly her vocals in “Something for the Pain” and “Here” depicts her overwhelming sadness. Jamie Muscato is outstanding as the scholar, Nathan; chiefly the point where he begins to cultivate feelings with Laura shows how frantic he is to help Laura in building her confidence and this shows his sensitive and decent side. Grace Rowe is vivid as Anna’s very inaudible daughter, Laura; specifically how troubled she has been due to the horrific circumstances in her childhood, in addition she lightens up when Nathan shows affection towards her and it does surprise her as she has not had this experience beforehand.  Molly McGuire is brilliant as vivacious daughter, Lily; especially how the lack of a male role model and limited mother’s warmth has caused her to turn into a wild child of a teenager with no inhibitions whatsoever by excessive drinking and being drunk almost daily.

Ryan McBryde’s directions is atmospheric here as he has crafted a musical that is of near perfect with spectacular panache as we are taken on a journey of a mother and two daughters who have been through a hellish time as of late and the battles they currently face on a day to day basis. Additionally, his expansion of the characters was dealt with with such transcendence.  David Woodhead’s set and costume designs are gorgeous as I was absorbed into the world of Anna, her two children and Nathan with amazing detailing and comprehension. Overall, the experience of, ;The House of Mirrors and Hearts’ was a gratifying one indeed.