Polly Stenham
That face
Mia, fifteen-year-old girl from the British upper middle class, spends most of her time in a girls’ boarding school. One evening, she, her school-friend Izzy and thirteen-year-old Alice perform an initiation rite in their room. In English boarding schools, this rite is a well-established tradition. But during this particular rite many things go wrong.
That Face is British playwright Polly Stenham’s (1986) debut play, written in the Young Writers Programme held by London’s Royal Court Theatre.
That Face, 2007
Drama
First slovene production
Performance length is 1 hour and 40 minutes and has no pause.
Creators
Translator
Eva Mahkovic
Director
Tijana Zinajić
Dramaturg
Eva Mahkovic
Set designer
Urša Vidic
Costume designer
Matic Hrovat
Music selection by
Gregor Andolšek
Language consultant
Martin Vrtačnik
Sound designer
Sašo Dragaš
Lighting designer
Andrej Koležnik
Actors
Martha
Tjaša Železnik
Mia
Ana Pavlin
Lucija Harum k. g.
Henry
Matej Zemljič k. g.
Hugh
Gregor Gruden
Izzy
Lara Wolf
Alice
Lucija Harum k. g., Suzana Krevh k. g.
Mia is expelled and must return home to a small flat, where lives her mother Martha and her older brother Henry. Martha is an alcoholic and a pill-addict, while Henry (who wants to be a painter) has recently dropped out of school so he could take care of his mum. Mia and Martha do not get along: they are aggressive and jealous. The relationship between Martha and Henry is even more complicated – full of obsessive love and co-dependency bordering on incest, and highly destructive for both.
The play premiered at the Royal Court in 2007 and was directed by Jeremy Herring; Martha was played by Lindsay Duncan. The text is semi-autobiographical: the problematic mother-daughter relationship reflects the complicated author’s relationship with her own mother. That Face was an instant hit, a fresh and pop, but also poignant play. Polly Stenham’s other plays Tusk Tusk, No Quarter and Hotel were put on stage at the Royal Court, the National Theatre and the Duke of York. Stenham also writes stage adaptations and television screenplays, she was a co-screenwriter of the psychological thriller The Neon Demon. Her work is extremely personal, dealing with her generation and the social context she is well-acquainted with, which makes her plays frank, youthful and direct.
Award
Tjaša Železnik
Dnevnik Award 2021 for outstanding artistic achievement in Ljubljana City Theatre in the previous season for the role of Martha in the production of That Face by Polly Stenham and for the role of Anaida in the production of The Italian Straw Hat by Eugène Labiche.