'The Human Body' Review

Written by Lucy Kirkwood, directed by Michael Longhurst and Ann Yee, starring Keeley Hawes and Jack Davenport, and performed at The Donmar Warehouse from 19th February to 13th April 2024.

A couple of months ago I had the privilege of seeing Keeley Hawes and Jack Davenport perform in The Human Body at the Donmar Warehouse in London (and even got to meet Keeley afterwards!). I wrote a review of it soon after which I posted over on my Instagram (@alexj.writings), so I thought I would share a slightly adapted version of it here too:

In addition to starring Hawes and Davenport, the play co-stars Pearl Mackie, Tom Goodman-Hill and Siobhan Redmond. It's set around the beginning of the NHS and follows the career and private life of Iris Elcock (Hawes), a doctor and aspiring Labour MP working to implement the health service, whose chance encounter with actor George Blythe (Davenport) throws a spanner in the works.

I can't express enough how much every single actor excelled in their role/s in this production. Mackie, Goodman-Hill and Redmond play multiple characters and do so extremely well, using different accents and mannerisms to differentiate those they were playing, and sometimes doing so in quick turn arounds.

Davenport brought so much romance and wit to his character that it made you instantly fall in love with him. As for Keeley Hawes, she was nothing short of amazing. I'm an avid fan of hers, so to see her perform onstage was incredible. Iris experiences extreme highs and lows of emotion, and Hawes is able to communicate every single nuance of those emotions perfectly. Hawes' performance as Iris can certainly be added to her long list of awe-inspiring performances of formidable and beautifully complex women.

In terms of the production, it used a revolving stage which I absolutely loved - it kept the action dynamic and enabled you to view the scenes from different perspectives. What I loved the most was the use of projection behind the stage that showed black and white close ups of the actors as they were performing. It added another dimension to the performances, where you could see more subtle movements and facial expressions that are harder to notice on the stage. The stage hands who operated the cameras and wheeled the props to and from the stage did so seamlessly and I actually really enjoyed this more 'meta' aspect of the production and didn't feel as though it took you out of the story.

When we think back to the birth of the NHS, we're likely to think of the male politicians who fought for it (or against it), but The Human Body instead shows us the hidden history of the kinds of women who also put so much on the line to fight for free healthcare. And beyond the NHS, the play also shows us a woman putting herself first: she pursues her career in politics despite the disapproval of her husband, and she acknowledges the love that she lacks in her life and is prepared to go after it when she finds it. Iris Elcock is a beautifully written character, and even though the play was nearly two and a half hours long, I wish it was longer just so I could go on watching Iris and Keeley Hawes performing her.

Overall, The Human Body was an innovative and engrossing production starring such incredible talents, and I adored visiting the Donmar Warehouse for the first time! Here's to hoping we see Keeley Hawes doing more theatre in the future!

Images are my own.