Kin at HOME Manchester - Review

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Tue 29 Oct 2024 - Sat 02 Nov 2024

Just back from her husband’s funeral Kay (Roberta Kerr) is ready to reflect on the past and open the next chapter of her life. Her only obstacle is Steph (Kerry Wilson-Parry) - sister of her late husband, Robert McGregor. She treats Kay’s home as if it were her own and is oblivious to every hint and request from Kay that she wants to be left alone.

Christine Mackie’s play, KIN has only two characters but this gives it focus rather than diminishing the drama, especially in its first half. The interplay between the two women has a strong dynamic. Kay is the one who seems to have all the advantages over Steph. She has a high-flying career behind her, in contrast to Steph’s dissolute existence, which was dependent on hand-outs from her brother.



Why then does Steph seem so untroubled by Kay’s Dragons Den-style cross-examining of her financial situation and her self-dramatising, inconsistent versions of her back story?

I was particularly impressed by Kerry Wilson-Parry’s ability to portray the superficial charm of her character, off-set by her ‘sisterly’ undermining of Kay, with jibes about her appearance and background.

Her non-verbal acting was also compelling. It felt as though you could see the not-yet-spoken thoughts crossing Steph’s mind as if she had a nuclear button behind her eyes.



Roberta Kerr had a tougher role to navigate - playing a character who was much less expressive and manipulative but who also switched to moments of deep emotion, provoked by the friendly fire of Steph.



I guessed at the play’s darkest revelation, as I suspect did many others in the audience, especially given the recommendation of it being suitable for ages 14+. But the anticipation of when Steph would explode her foundation-shattering bombshell added to the tension overall. After this big revelation came, I felt my engagement slipping slightly. I didn’t feel as though I had invested enough in the characters to care enough about the subsequent twists and turns.

KIN, directed by Sue Jenkins, has a running time of 1 hour 35 minutes, including an interval. It is, on the whole, an engaging piece of drama which proves that less can be more when it comes to cast numbers. Its strongest moments come from the unraveling of fraught family connections and the rebalancing of the power-relationship between two characters, where one of them carries more of the scars and the lethal legacy of dark family secrets than the other one can ever have imagined.



The play has the last performance of its short tour of northern venues at HOME on Saturday 2nd November.

Read writer Christine Mackie's interview with Weekend Notes here.

HOME Oct 29th- Nov 2nd 2 Tony Wilson Place Manchester M15 4FN
Box Office 0161 200 1500
Suitable for ages 14+
Tickets from £10

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