The Hampstead Theatre describes Nineteen Gardens as an "enigmatic and explosive" drama that "delves into the complex lives of two lovers entangled by an extramarital affair.”
It says on its website: ”Nearly two years after the end of their affair, John and Aga meet once more. Each has filled the void left by the other: he has withdrawn into his world of wealth and privilege; she has found herself working as a chambermaid to support her family. Both recognise that the spark between them is still there. Will they rekindle what they had, or is an altogether darker game about to be played out…?”
The production of Nineteen Gardens, directed by Alice Hamilton, has won favourite reviews from British critics.
Arifa Akbar, writing for The Guardian, gave it four stars in a five-star ranking, calling the play “a gripping account of an illicit affair’s aftermath.” She says that both actors, Olivia Le Andersen and David Sturzaker, "give good, cool performances in a crisp production, which, at just an hour, leaves its questions needling in your mind."
Andrzej Lukowski describes Nineteen Gardens in Time Out as a “short, spiky drama about power inequality that follows the aftermath of a passionate affair … ultimately a play about power imbalances, and how the affair may have the appearance of equality, but how hugely far apart in station Aga and John ultimately are in a society run by wealth."
He writes that Nineteen Gardens is "fraught with allegorical meaning: the refusal of the rich to help the poor, the West to help the East, how society is not truly equal. It’s also undoubtedly about how men are bastards … and the ideas it throws out are deliciously provocative.”
Financial Times critic Sarah Hemming explains that the "nineteen gardens" of the title of Miecznicka’s play "refers to the distance between the homes of two ex-lovers, John and Aga."
Aga is "an eastern European woman with a precarious income," she says, while John is "a wealthy Brit whose job and family fortune shield him from the sort of money troubles that seep into every corner of her life.”
Hemming writes in conclusion: “Their characters are compelling in a play that, through an intimate power struggle, deftly lifts the lid on the multiple inequalities plaguing UK society.”
According to Cindy Marcolina of BroadwayWorld, Nineteen Gardens is "a short hour of bitter satire about privilege, unfairness, and opportunity … Some will see a callous attempt at arbitrary retaliation, others will find an extremely detailed representation of English society. It's an excellent opportunity for discussion.”
Miecznicka is a journalist and literary critic, with several books to her name. She now resides in London. Nineteen Gardens is her first play in English.
The play runs at the Hampstead Theatre until December 9.
(mk/gs)