Letters To Joan ****

A young woman is surrounded by scatterings of papers and photographs. It’s clear that some research project is underway.

In Letters To Joan, Samantha Streit is on a quest. Armed with an array of documents and photographs, she is seeking a connection with her forebears. She has conversations with her grandpa, seeking to clarify family history, but moreover to delve deeper into the motivations and circumstances that shaped it.

Samantha adopts the persona of Joan, her grandmother – and suddenly a dialogue between Joan and Lenny, Samantha’s grandpa, emerges. Through a series of dialogues and monologues that dart back and forth, a portrait of the family takes shape.

Lenny and Joan began a relationship in 1956, despite the initially considerable distance between them. Both had aspirations: Lenny to be a lawyer, Joan a playwright.

Sometimes in life, however, you have to choose between career and family, one of the themes of this production. Lenny’s legal training is put on ice due to his mother’s mental ill health and his father’s suddenly failing physical health. Joan becomes pregnant and never realises her literary aspirations.

Grandpa paraphrases a Yiddish proverb: “We make plans and god laughs”.

Another theme is generational inheritance – the way that one generation’s choices, sacrifices or ambitions can shape the next. Samantha’s mother became a lawyer because her own father had not. This is mirrored by Samantha, determined to take up the mantle of playwright.

Letters To Joan is in part an examination of the nature of time and how it can be recaptured through memory, with a slight echo of Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu perhaps.

What defines us - our dreams? Our accomplishments? Our careers? Our families? Or even, in the case of the writer, our names? Our protagonist is variously called ‘Sam’, ‘Sammy’ and ‘Samantha’, each version carrying its own sense of identity and intimacy.

Samantha’s search for connection drives the narrative – a desire to connect with family stories and understand the motivations behind them. But she is dealing with fragments - physical and memory - and can she grasp the complete picture? She is striving for what has been unsaid, what lies beneath these fragments. But does she want answers or approval?

The production concludes on an uplifting and poignant note, with a letter addressed to “Sammy”.

Streit’s performance is truly excellent. She is a talented storyteller, finding layers within the narrative to drive the production. She conveys a natural warmth and empathy, coupled with gentle humour, but juxtaposed with moments of reflection and introspection. There is good support from Kevin Cahill and, following last year’s Youth In Flames, this represents another fine directorial offering from Jessica Whiley.

Let’s leave the last words to Proust: “The real voyage of discovery consists in having new eyes.”

Pleasance Courtyard until 31^st August -  in association with Finding Forests and Richard Jordan Productions,