How do you translate Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway to the stage when the vast majority of the novel unfolds inside its characters’ minds? This brilliant production, staged at Manchester’s HOME theatre, answers that daunting question by placing a single performer at the centre of an ever-shifting landscape of people, memories, and fractured relationships.
Over the course of a single day, Clarissa Dalloway prepares to host a party while war veteran Septimus Smith struggles to survive the psychological trauma of the trenches. Their stories unfold in parallel, seamlessly drifting between past and present. Rather than propelling the evening forward with a conventional plot, the production allows the audience the space to get beneath the skin of its characters, exposing the hidden realities behind their curated outward lives.
Kit Green does not simply portray fifteen characters; they breathe a distinct, vivid life into every single one. Through precise shifts in voice, posture, expression, and movement, Green transitions between personalities with remarkable clarity. It is an extraordinary feat of concentration and physical control. Crucially, the technical mechanics of the performance quickly melt away, allowing the audience to become fully absorbed in the people rather than just the spectacle of the acting.
As the day progresses, the darker undercurrents of these lives steadily break to the surface. Septimus’s fractured experience of war is deeply affecting, while Clarissa’s seemingly ordered existence grows increasingly complex as we glimpse the vulnerabilities beneath her poise. There is a profound, growing sense that every individual on stage is carrying an invisible burden that the outside world cannot fathom.
The creative team deserves immense credit for the way they construct this world around Green. Simon Kenny’s fluid set design gives the performance room to continually shift shape, while Phil Saunders’ lighting goes far beyond basic illumination; pools of light isolate characters, heavy shadows swallow sections of the stage, and subtle shifts in hue alter our entire sense of space. Monika Koeck’s striking film work successfully expands the world beyond the stage, while Stephen Hull’s atmospheric sound design and composition effortlessly carry us between different eras and minds. The overarching choreography ties these multimedia elements together with impressive precision.
Just when the emotional intensity threatens to become overwhelming, Green masterfully breaks the fourth wall. These direct exchanges with the audience are warm, humorous, and perfectly timed – offering a welcome opportunity to catch our breath before Woolf’s intense world closes in once more. They also serve as a striking reminder of the sheer versatility of the performer commanding the stage.
This is by no means a straightforward adaptation, and it does demand something of its audience. There are moments when you must let go of waiting for the next plot beat and simply allow the characters to occupy the psychological space. For me, that is precisely where the production finds its ultimate strength. By stepping away from linear storytelling, it offers something far more intimate: a rare chance to sit with these characters and truly understand what they carry.
Mrs Dalloway may only span a single day, but this terrific production uncovers an extraordinary depth of life within it. One actor, fifteen characters, and a room full of memories- it is a magnificent way to spend an evening.
Visit HOME Manchester – https://www.homemcr.org/
Photos by Andrew AB
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