Miss Myrtle's Garden

Danny James King’s new play about secrets and fear of loss is a delightful mix of humour and heart-touching tenderness. Set in the, at first dishevelled garden of Miss Myrtle, characters come and go both in reality, and in the troubled mind of Miss Myrtle herself. The intimate in-the-round setting gives a perfect opportunity for the fluidity of the piece and allows the ghost of her dead husband Melrose to circle the space at times merely observing and other breaking into her dreams and memories.

Diveen Henry as Miss Myrtle holds the play together and gives a wonderfully gauged performance whether it is being the dominant matriarch of the family or the loving wife or grandmother. There is an absolute truth in her performance that is so engaging.

Alone at the beginning she almost begrudgingly takes in Rudy (Michael Ahomka-Lindsay) and his partner Jason (Elander Moore) when the rent on their London flat becomes too extortionate. This proves hard for Rudy and particularly Jason to adapt to a life where they must keep their relationship even more secret. Their personalities are poles apart which causes much of the friction and humour as they sneak around each other and garden itself.

The other real-life character in Miss Myrtle’s life is Eddie her Irish neighbour who is introduced, when in a drunken state, he serenades with ‘The Wild Rover’ whilst peeing up the garden wall. Outraged Miss Myrtle sets him to work weeding and replenishing her garden. Their awkward relationship becomes all the more poignant when, through her onset dementia, she begins to mix him up with her dead husband Melrose, played with tenderness and cheek by Mensah Bediako. The perfect foil for Miss Myrtle.

Taio Lawson’s direction allows for a comfort within the performances and the scenes that fits well alongside the staging. The serenity of the set by Khadja Raza and lighting by Joshua Gadsby, allows Dan Balfour’s garden soundscape to jarringly shift into music that breaks the calm.

Some of aspects of the gay relationship in this play feel a little out of kilter with how two characters like Rudy and Jason would be in today’s society, but balancing this against the beautifully observed life of an older woman losing herself to dementia makes for an overall extremely touching production.


Photo credit: Camilla Greenwell