The Fever Syndrome review: Robert Lindsay brings unexpected fragility to an often confusing play
Alexis Zegerman’s family dramedy is tonally muddled, but visually delightful
There’s a lot going on in The Fever Syndrome. Alexis Zegerman’s play opens on the eve of a family reunion to celebrate the achievements of Dr Richard Myers (Robert Lindsay), a titan in the field of IVF who has Parkinson’s. The house creaks with unresolved tensions. His daughter Dot (Lisa Dillon) is exhausted from looking after her pre-teen daughter Lily (Nancy Allsop), who suffers from a rare condition where she gets extreme fevers. Dot’s half-brother Thomas (Alex Waldmann) has arrived home with his new boyfriend, while his golden-boy twin Anthony arrives halfway through the party, spouting off about cryptocurrency. The kids suspect that Richard’s third wife Megan (Alexandra Gilbreath) is a flirtatious gold digger. “This is very Edward Albee,” Thomas says. No kidding.
If it all sounds confusing, that’s because it is. Thankfully, Lindsay is a more than capable anchor. From him, director Roxana Silbert cajoles a performance of unexpected fragility, pathos puncturing the fearsome gravitas. He may struggle to eat unassisted, but Richard still intimidates his family and can shut them down with a pithy comment. This is a man as sardonic as he is erudite. “I dropped a few pounds,” he tells Thomas. “The shake – it burns calories. The neurological disease diet.” They laugh at the dark humour; as does the audience.
Watching Richard’s slow deterioration, his lively mind entombed in a body no longer willing, is particularly gruelling. It’s distinctly at odds with the script, which is jaunty and garrulous; not too dissimilar tonally, in fact, to BBC’s bewildering popular sitcom My Family. When the whole family gathers, chaos ensues; conversation ricochets back and forth, rat-a-tat-tat. No one can keep up.
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