{"id":1798,"date":"2019-06-03T11:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/?p=1798"},"modified":"2019-06-03T12:18:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T11:18:57","slug":"propwatch-the-stuffed-duck-in-rutherford-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/2019\/06\/propwatch-the-stuffed-duck-in-rutherford-son.html","title":{"rendered":"Propwatch: the stuffed duck in Rutherford & Son"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There\u2019s barely a scrap of frivolity in the Rutherford\nhome. The home of a Tyneside manufacturing family in the 1910s, it\u2019s imposing,\nsubstantial, stuffed to the gunwhales with heavy furniture \u2013 yet you struggle\nto spot anything that isn\u2019t grimly functional or solid enough to break your toe\nshould you drop it. Whatever else it is, the house of Rutherford is not a house\nof fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Githa Sowerby<\/a> based Rutherford and Son<\/a><\/em> (1912) on her own family; it\u2019s an unsparing vision of the dead weight of joyless patriarchy. The designer of the National Theatre\u2019s revival, Lizzie Clachan<\/a>, cheerfully admits that her set is \u2018actually quite hideous.\u2019 Clachan can do spare or stark at the drop of a hat, but here she devotes herself to the house heaving. All manner of Edwardian impedimenta, plus ledgers stuffed into every crevice \u2013 it\u2019s a working home that, like its stern patriarch (Roger Allam), never stops for play. A new daughter-in-law (Anjana Vasan) sews coloured bows on her baby\u2019s bonnet, and everyone looks askance at her flighty London ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ruthfords are glass manufacturers, yet their home is almost devoid of light and shimmer \u2013 and as for transparency, forget it. Rutherford\u2019s desiccated daughter has a secret love. His flailing older son has a secret invention. Father deceives and discards them both (I\u2019ve seen scenery chewed in this role before, but Allam plays it dry \u2013 icily reasonable, only monstrous in his calm indifference to his brood). Vasan\u2019s disregarded daughter-in-law also stays opaque \u2013 until the final scene, when she plays a bold hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Roger Allam (also above) and Anjana Vasan. Photos: Johan Persson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What else catches the eye? A photograph of the previous\nRutherford on the wall, confirming that the fun-loving gene has skipped the\ndynasty altogether. Furniture so heavy with mahogany that everyone has to manoeuvre\nawkwardly around the room. Some trophy shields glower beside the staircase \u2013 probably\nrelics of Rutherford\u2019s champion athletics days, one of the few subjects which raises\na flicker of pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what\u2019s that high above the mantel? A\u2026 stuffed duck? Neither use nor much in the way of ornament, but there it sits, a poorly-stuffed mallard. Why do the Rutherfords display a duck? Father doesn\u2019t have fun, but he has pretensions. Despising humanity, he nonetheless wants to hoist his children up the social ladder. That\u2019s his secret weakness \u2013 a yen he doesn\u2019t know what to do with that becomes another family torment. For the daughter (Justine Mitchell), that means being forbidden to play with her village peers or entertain their advances when older. For the oldest son \u2013 poor, lost John (Sam Troughton) \u2013 it meant a miserable year at Harrow and a few aristocratic encounters of excruciating embarrassment. One schoolchum, we\u2019re told, invited him to join a weekend shooting party. Not a success. He hasn\u2019t got over it, and is still furiously trying to prove his worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is that where the duck comes from? The only thing John shot, possibly by accident? A pity prize, gifted by a sneering nob? Swiped from the kitchens to save face on return? Who knows, but this paltry bit of poultry stands in for the gentility on which Rutherford\u2019s sights are grimly set. The house is emptier by the end of the play: Rutherford\u2019s company is floundering, he\u2019s squandered his own family\u2019s affections. The duck, that sullen lump of taxidermy, remains. Much good may it do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow David on Twitter: @mrdavidjays<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s barely a scrap of frivolity in the Rutherford home. The home of a Tyneside manufacturing family in the 1910s, it\u2019s imposing, substantial, stuffed to the gunwhales with heavy furniture \u2013 yet you struggle to spot anything that isn\u2019t grimly functional or solid enough to break your toe should you drop it. Whatever else it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[65,322,321,34],"class_list":{"0":"post-1798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-national-theatre","9":"tag-props","10":"tag-propwatch","11":"tag-theatre","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1798"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1805,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798\/revisions\/1805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}