Too Many Books by Judi Bevan. Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate Village, London until 06 March 2025, 3☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Interesting first play.”

This first play by Judi Bevan is set in the 1990s when it was possible for people seeking to adopt a child to go to China where orphanages were full of unwanted baby girls – a trade that has no ceased. It is apparently based on her own experience as in the 19902 she and her husband, viewed as too old here to adopt began their journeys to China. Such adoptions did require approval by social services here.Daniel ( John Sackville), a middle aged barrister and his second wife Julia (Lucky Pickles) want to adopt a girl. She has had a miscarriage and the attempts at IVF have failed. She does not want to try again, They come up against social worker Zayden (Alexandra O'Neill) and a battle ensues. The piece is well performed but suffers from the fact that Zayden is patently the social worker from hell with a very suspect past – which is eventually revealed – and the would be adoptees are about as unsympathetic a couple is one could hope never to meet. He is arrogant and, for a lawyer, holds a conversation he should not have had with Zayden, while she is a former alcoholic and absolutely obsessed with the idea of a Chinese baby girl to love. He is also prepared that she try IVF again when clearly it is something she does not want and should not, if it is going to be so stressful and possibly damaging, have.

Almost all of it takes place in the couple's hideous flat where the telephone when it rings runs the risk of damaging the hearing of all within earshot – somebody must do something about that straight away – apart from a couple of scenes involving Zayden's boss played by Sue Kelvin. The setting matters because it also plays a part in the judgement – there is a lot of discussion about the books in the cases lining the walls. Eventually another social worker is involved who turns out to be nice and sympathetic and the couple get their wish. Too Many Books is a first play and the obstacles facing people who want to adopt are interesting. But the trade in babies from China ended last year and in England today there are some 80,000 children in care of whom last year under 3000 were adopted. There are problems when it comes to genetic and social differences between the child and the would be parents and love, which is what they claim to offer, is not seen by social workers as enough. There is undeniably a play in there somewhere but not about those people.

Cast

Sue Kelvin – Cynthia

Zaydee p Alexandra O'Neill

Lucy Pickles – Julia

John Sackville – Daniel

Carol Walton – Chloe

Creatives

Directot – Christopher Hunter

Set & Costume Design – Hannah Danson

Lighting Design – Jonathan Chan

Sound Supervisor – Stephen Graham