That Face

by Polly Stenham

Mia is at boarding school. She has access to drugs. They are Martha's. Henry is preparing for art college. He has access to alcohol from Martha. Martha controls their lives. Martha is their mother.

"That Face" won the TMA Award 2007 for Best New Play. Polly Stenham received both the Charles Wintour Award 2007 and the Critics' Circle Award 2008 for Most Promising Playwright.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Contemporary, Fiction, Read For School, British Literature

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2007

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to read plays that I've also seen for some strange reason. It was easier when I worked in the theatre industry, as picking up written copies for free (well, borrowing them mostly) was a regular occurrence. Polly Stenham is another talented female playwright (seems to me there are just as many female British playwrights now as there are men, which is great) and this work very much has a 'kitchen sink' realism to it like the popular British plays from the 50s & 60s. It's not a light play, so to speak, but its rich dark homour is something I do love in theatre.

[Mandy Partridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Polly Stenham has written a powerful play about alcohol and drug abuse, boarding school, bullying, incest and single parent families. British ruling class, with uncomfortably racist jokes, this young playwright examines a dysfunctional family of beautiful charmed people who have lost their moral compass.

[Elin Nilsson · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the fuck.
If I wasn’t reading this for school I would’ve stopped at the second scene. I had to put this down multiple times because I was so disgusted. Emotional (and physical) incest, racist remarks, etc etc. It’s obviously not supposed to be a happy story, but still. I didn’t enjoy it.

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first read this aloud in year 12 drama class it was jarring to say the least, Stenham managed in her debut work to tackle every taboo she could think of! But somehow she managed to convert a class of teenagers through deep understanding and love for her (very flawed) characters. Whilst a typical extremely intense play from the 2000s era of The Royal Court, there was a lot of relatable moments within it despite the extreme nature of the story as it ultimately concerns humanity and family before anything else.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Henry: You don't remember much, do you?

Martha: I-

Henry: I find that a sick justice. Whenever this happens, I wake up remembering it. Remembering everything you said, and you wake up weird and optimistic.

Martha: Please -

Henry: You can't really be sorry. Not if you don't properly remember."

[Alessandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Don't be under any illusions, sweetie, your daddy doesn't give a fuck about you. He's just a tidy man."

[Maisie Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a brilliant play!
So strange, so weird but so so brilliant.
I have 2 exam questions on this play for my A-Level Drama so I get to develop even further into this wonderful piece of script.

[Matīss Gricmanis · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is brilliant

[holl · Rating 5 out of 5]

stenham took the phrase ‘hard to read’ to a completely different level. she tackled every single taboo in such a short space and i’d love to see it performed

[Evi Routoula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Το πρώτο θεατρικό έργο της Πόλλυ Στέναμ μάς παρουσιάζει μια δυσλειτουργική οικογένεια στη Βρετανία. Η κόρη δίνει με το ζόρι βαρβιτουρικά σε μια συμφοιτήτριά της και κινδυνεύει να αποβληθεί. Η μητέρα είναι αλκοολική. Ο γιος είναι ακόμα δεμένος σε υπερβολικό βαθμό με την μητέρα. Ο πατέρας έχει φτιάξει νέα οικογένεια και ζει στο Χονγκ Κονγκ και η μοναδική του συνεισφορά είναι οικονομική.
Το έργο παρουσιάστηκε το 2007 πρώτη φορά στο Λονδίνο και κέρδισε αρκετά βραβεία ( πρωτοεμφανιζόμενης συγγραφέως, καλύτερο έργο της χρονιάς κ.οκ.) . Στην Ελλάδα παρουσιάστηκε στο θέατρο Αργώ το 2010 με την Αιμιλία Υψηλάντη και τον Γιάννη Ζαβραδινό.

[Pia]

what the fuck what the fuck

[Mina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird, harsh,shocking and real!

[Jennie Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This genre isn't something I would usually pick up but I'm always looking to expand my reading! This play focuses on dysfunctional family relationships.

I read through this really quickly because of it's form. It took a while for me to get into it but that's probably since I've rarely read plays in my free time. Thanks to this, I'm going to look out for more!

Check out the rest on my blog here:

http://jennieelouisee.blogspot.co.uk/...

[Fantaghirò · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but unconvincing in its portrayal of mental illness. Also, towards the end it becomes all about the mother-son relationship while the other characters kind of just stand there. The daughter's issues are never resolved.

From the way it's written, it feels like the author wants to yank an emotional response from the audience/reader at the expense of the consistency of the events.

[Bill Hurlbut · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unpleasant play about ugly people.

[Caroline May · Rating 4 out of 5]

The near-incestuous relationship between Henry and Martha vs the relationship between Mia and Hugh is reminiscent of a Greek tragedy which was so compelling to me. You almost feel sorry for Martha because, while she's a terrible mother for sure, she's still a person wracked from mental illness and addiction. A lot of people seem to be uncomfortable with Martha's treatment of her son- which clearly you're not supposed to just be chill with- but I think they may be failing to see the reality of children with parents struggling with drugs/alcoholism/bipolar disorder or BPD probably. It's not necessarily just shock for the sake of shock. I felt ill towards the end when Henry is begging Martha not to go like the severe codependency is sickening. It also leaves you with a bit wanting more - is Hugh going to stay and help his children recover, or will he just flit off back to China? Also I think that people criticizing Martha's racist remarks about Hugh's new wife forgot that characters in media are not necessarily indicative of a creator's beliefs Martha is not real babes (and she's not portrayed as like a good person please read more books)
BEWARE OF BOYMOMS

[Pence08 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the opening of That Face, a scene of boarding school hazing gone wrong which brought to mind Eliza Clark's powerful 'Penance'. From there, Polly Stenham took us into the world of, what I thought was, a most surreal, incestuous relationship between Henry and his mother, (a nod to Albee?) Martha. An updated Sophocles for the twilight of the 20th century. I was hooked, how bizarre, isn't this the excitement of shock that theatre is capable of generating? That it should be generating? Yet not in a million clichés did I think it would descend into a drunken family drama which had more than just a few echoes of A Streetcar Named Desire.
It's never the same reading a play as being in the audience but, in this case, reading the play might have saved me from an experience from which I might have wished to escape.
And what the hell happened to Alice?

[becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The play itself was good however, I felt demotivated to continue reading as it was a play I am studying for Drama A level. It really covers the impacts of a dysfunctional family on the children, Henry has taken a more adult and mature role in order to take care of Martha and her illness whereas Mia has taken taken a route of almost self-destruction, she ruins her school life by doing some unnaturally cruel things towards Alice. Martha herself is mentally unstable and this impacts the entire family dynamic - evidently in many different ways based on how certain characters acted throughout. Overall a good play however I wouldn’t have chosen to read it had it not been mandatory.

[CS · Rating 1 out of 5]

So many problematic things about this book racism, incest you name it. Was written for the white middle class to enjoy -> the ‘humour’ in this book is really just racist comments. Extremely eery and disturbing but it was well written I guess?? Hughes’ character could not have been more flat and underdeveloped. Henry’s character was real and his whole parenting the parent issue was authentic and you could see the damage this caused. I get why people think it’s a good play, but it’s not for me
Did not enjoy. Would have been great having not read this.

[Kyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won’t lie I was kinda confused at the start, but for a play that discusses so many taboos in such a short period of time it successfully makes the audience, or the reader in this case, uncomfortable but not extremely so. Henry’s almost Oedipus complex and the decline of his mental stability throughout the play was really sad to see because from an outside perspective it’s seems fairly obvious that his mother isn’t going to get better anytime soon. For a play written by a 19 year old it really was good and I would’ve loved to have seen it in theatres.

[Molly Lashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

doing this for drama a level lol.

obviously am slightly disturbed by the martha and henry relationship, but i really like the way this was written, the dark comedy, and the way that every single character has so many faults which is a realistic representation of people i guess?

i cant believe polly stenham wrote this when she was only nineteen because it is so good!!

[jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

well that was weird and particularly fucked in parts but uh didn't hate it (the families' dynamic especially henry and martha is disgusting but a really thought-provoking look at dependence, attachment/ a parent's 'ownership' of their child and the consequences of that when alcohol is thrown in the mix).

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. I did not like this book, i had to read it for a uni class but i wanted to stop reading, its not "real" it is just a book with incest that is blamed on alcohol, i also wish it had more in it, maybe more personality in the characters like anything would be an improvement. It only made me uncomfortable. sorry

[Reya Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to read SUCH an early play by a writer...I think it is interesting that this got RC programming back in the 2000's, I wonder if it would be the same now. Lots of little sparkly moments, and also just encouraging to read early work that isn't perfect, but shows the beginnings of a style developing.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for Drama, however it was such a strange play with a very traumatic details.
However I think it showed Henry’s situation with his emotionally manipulative mother in a very good way to be displayed to the public.

[Santiago Guerra Arrangóiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a marvellous play! Quirky, fast-paced and with enthralling character dynamics. My only complaint is that they kind of abandon certain characters and the overall plot in favour of the extremely toxic and complex family dynamics. But this is golden! I would love to see this on stage.

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting, but I'm looking forward to exploring it further with DramaSoc!

[F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, makes me want to write plays. Wish I could've seen this

[Millie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant play. Exciting and vivacious although I felt like the themes could have been explored with more depth. I would really love to see this at the theatre.

[Faith Mckee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird