FULL REVIEWS

The Family Stage, October 11, 2022

Jennifer Fawcett’s award-winning play, Apples in Winter, has its European premiere at the Playground Theatre, London this month. Produced by LynchPin Productions, the play provides a rare glimpse into the invisible impact of violent crime, from the perspective of those whose suffering is rarely considered. In the aftermath of a murder, the grief of the victims’ families is often played out very publicly. We share their fear and hope as they face the cameras at news conferences, desperate for information. We experience their agony as they attend candlelit vigils and their anger as they sit in a courtroom, staring powerless at the person who took their loved one away. We feel their pain, we admire their equanimity and we hope beyond hope that we never have to go through the life-shattering experience that they have endured. But we rarely spare a thought for the other families who are destined to serve their own life sentence. Separated from their loved ones and isolated from society by the shame of a crime that they didn’t commit are the families of the perpetrator. Apples in Winter tells their story.

Miriam’s son, Robert has been on death row for 22 years. And although they have been physically separated for all that time, she has lived every moment with him. Time has lost all meaning and yet all they have is time. But that time is coming to an end and now all Miriam (Edie Campbell) can do for Robert is something that she has been unable to do for 22 years. Robert is entitled to the ritual of one last meal and he has requested his mother’s apple pie. Over the course of 75 minutes, we watch Miriam go through her own familiar ritual, demonstrating how to bake the perfect pie as she grapples with the anticipatory grief of losing her son.

It’s a beautifully written single-hander and Campbell gives an astonishing performance. Alone on stage for the full 75 minutes, not only does she deliver a lengthy and emotional monologue but she goes through the full process of baking the apple pie in front of the audience. The juxtaposition of the ordinary, wholesome ritual of baking with the harsh reality of Miram’s situation is extremely effective. At first, the pie is the real focus, with Miriam giving glimpses into her time as a young mother, life measured happily by the different fruits offered by the changing seasons. But small things snap us back to the horror of what is about to unfold. Miriam talks fondly of her home kitchen and an apple tree she tended lovingly for years, picking the perfect apples to bake the perfect pies every September. But the imperfect apples she peels with a knife chained to the countertop remind us that she’s not in her own kitchen and it’s not apple pie season. And regular glances at the imposing electronic clock on the wall behind her take on a far greater significance than simply checking when to take the pie out of the oven.

As time ticks on, and the room starts to fill with the sweet scents of cinnamon and nutmeg, we learn more about the rituals that have defined Miriam’s life over the last 22 years. She tells of weekly visits to prison, every Sunday like the one before, the same breakfast and a stop en route to smoke a cigarette to try and make things feel normal for Robert, even though she gave up smoking years ago. And every other day she follows the daily routine of prison life, waking, eating and going to bed at the same time as the inmates in an attempt to feel close to Robert. But 22 years of comforting routine are about to come to an end and Miriam must grapple with with the enormity of what her son has done. Slowly, she starts to open up, sharing the reactions first of her own family and then of the victim’s families, getting closer to acknowledging what happened on the fateful night when her life changed forever. Finally the pie is ready and Miriam is too.

Directed brilliantly by Claire Parker, the production makes powerful use of silence, with Elizabeth Tooms’ lighting and Andrew Hodson’s bleak set design really enhancing the emotional impact. Each evening also ends with an after-show discussion featuring guests including criminal justice practitioners, those involved in human rights and restorative justice, and individuals with lived experience of the criminal justice system. At the performance we attended, the guests were Sandra Barefoot of The Forgiveness Project and Dunia Shafik, a mother whose son is currently serving a life sentence for murder. This really hammered home the themes of the play, as Dunia shared her story and explored how Miriam’s experience echoed her own.

Apples in Winter is an enthralling, emotional and impactful play which will no doubt appeal to anyone with an interest in the criminal justice system but will resonate for so many more. A remarkable piece of theatre which offers a voice to an often-ostracised group of people and will hopefully open up important conversations about justice and forgiveness. The Family Stage

Theatre Things, October 11, 2022

Miriam’s making an apple pie for her son. She’s made it countless times before – when he was a child, a teenager and a man… but this time is different. This time she’s in a prison kitchen, preparing the pie that her son’s requested as a final meal before his execution. As a clock ruthlessly ticks down the minutes on the wall behind her, Miriam pours all her hurt and grief into the last thing she’ll ever do for the child she loved, lost and found again only when it was too late to save him.

The premise of Jennifer Fawcett’s play is hard-hitting enough, but in the right hands it becomes absolutely devastating – and it’s hard to imagine hands more right than those of actor Edie Campbell. What’s important about Miriam is that she’s a nice lady, one you’d never expect to find in these circumstances, and Campbell radiates warmth and kindness from the moment she appears on stage. We like her, and so when her mask slips and we glimpse the pain beneath the smile, we feel it too. And as her reflections build gradually to a crescendo of rage and despair – against the system, against her son, and most of all against herself – we feel every single moment of it with her. It’s upsetting for all sorts of reasons, but largely because Miriam could be anyone’s mother; if such a horrific thing can happen to her, why not to any of us?

Whatever your views about the death penalty going in, it’s hard to watch Apples in Winter and not come away from it feeling sickened by a system that claims to offer justice but in fact does the exact opposite. 22 years after his crime, it’s difficult to think what Robert’s death can possibly achieve besides causing more suffering to more people, perpetuating a cycle of violence and revenge that should have ended long ago. And it’s hard to imagine what kind of life his mother will be going back to after today, knowing everything that she’s lost, and is about to lose, as a result of her son’s crime and punishment. The pie – prepared and baked on stage during the performance – might be perfect but everything else is shattered beyond repair, and the play’s last line, spoken with a heartbreaking finality, leaves the audience sitting in stunned silence for several moments after the lights go down.

I could probably write an essay on the quality of Fawcett’s writing, which is both sensitive and brutal in its exploration of a difficult topic. It raises so many points about not only the death penalty, but about family, and loss, and the failings of a society that drives people to crime and then denies them any opportunity for redemption. Director Claire Parker lets these words breathe, punctuating the production with moments of silence that give Miriam time alone with her thoughts, and the audience a chance to digest and process what we’ve heard. The play is also followed every evening by a post-show discussion, which provides further opportunity to explore the themes and impact of the play.

All I can really say about Apples in Winter is that it’s really, really good, with an immensely powerful one-woman performance from Edie Campbell that will leave you feeling shaken and devastated and furious. An absolute must-see. Theatre Things

2nd from bottom - John Chapman, October 13, 2022

Before the development of modern food storage methods fresh produce had its own season for harvesting and eating; apples, for instance, were primarily an autumn crop. Miriam makes this point as she sets about creating a pie for her son Robert to enjoy. The sweet treat is tinged with bitterness and regret though for the latter is on death row and it is to be part of his final meal before the state ritual of execution is carried out. This is the scenario in Jennifer Fawcett’s Apples In Winter currently on stage at The Playground Theatre in West London.

An award winning play from the US, this production is its European premiere and features a beautifully nuanced performance from Edie Campbell as the one and only character who gives agency to a generally neglected set of voices – the mothers of the criminally convicted. Criminality can, of course, often spring from neglect but there is no suggestion of that here. In fact, Miriam and Robert seem to have had a perfectly fine relationship until the point where the latter becomes an addict whereupon everything goes pear shaped (should, of course, be apple shaped but that doesn’t work). Robert commits a senseless act of violence resulting in death and is sentenced to pay the full penalty.

All of this is gradually revealed as we see Miriam making a pie she has made her son countless times before – often as the centrepiece of a celebratory occasion. And it is only gradually that we realise that the setting is the prison kitchen. She is not allowed to bake at home and bring the dessert in, just in case she “puts something in it” and cheats the justice system of her son’s ritualised demise. The production drops some clever hints. The set looks far grubbier than would be suggested by a home environment and at first Miriam is using a plastic knife to cut up the butter – my instant mental condemnation of the stage manager turned to approbation once I realised. There is a proper knife too but that is chained to the countertop; at this point the proverbial penny dropped. Pastry is made and fashioned into a pie crust, apples are sliced, spices are added. The result, constructed before our eyes, looks good enough to eat though Miriam has warned that many people in Robert’s position decline to do so.

I’m sorry if I’m making the play sound like a tame episode of The Great British Bake Off because it is far more than that. It’s an indictment of a system which insists on revenge but does little to solve the problems before they arise. It also asks the big question about what happens to the families who are left behind. Miriam in no way condones what her son has perpetrated but wonders what more could have been done to keep him from reaching the point where “an eye for an eye” is touted as the only solution. And over twenty years has passed since sentencing took place – the ongoing mental torture for all concerned must be horrendous.

Edie Campbell shows us a woman in torment but trying desperately to harness her emotions. At first she comes across as the all-American mom, baking that most traditional of US dishes, talking quietly and smiling wryly as she reminisces. But gradually the cracks begin to show; Campbell becomes increasingly agitated and even faints at the emotional intenseness of it all. Finally, she cracks and the last third of the play is a moving and delicately crafted piece on the part of the actor, the writer and director Claire Parker who sets the whole thing against a stark digital timer which counts down the minutes. Bake Off may sometimes be tense – but it is never as tense as this. Recommended. 2nd from bottom

The Surrey Advertiser - Jeff Thomson, October 6, 2023

Following a successful run as part of London’s thriving Fringe scene a relatively new play, Apples in Winter, arrived last week at The Mill Studio.

It was a compelling experience but not unsurprising because en route to Guildford both author and actor had achieved awards and recognition: the playwright Jennifer Fawcett won the Smith Prize for Political Theatre and actor Edie Campbell, following her London Run was nominated for an 2023 Offie (productions presented Off the West End) losing out to Dame Maureen Lipman whose appearance at the Park Theatre in Rose won the award.

Set in America Apples in Winter, advertised as ‘one woman’s love; one last request; one apple pie’ is a monologue in which we learn 22 years earlier Miriam’s son Robert had murdered a young couple and is on Death Row.

We also slowly conclude that Robert is not the only one ‘serving the sentence’. His mother too has had to cope with hostility and shame. Robert’s appeals against the death penalty have failed but he is permitted a last request; he has asked for a slice of his Mother’s apple pie. Miriam sets about the task of making it - peeling the apples, preparing the pastry and measuring the spices.

It is a gentle domestic scene agonizingly held-fast against a backdrop of violence - a kitchen seemingly calm but deeply shadowed by the brutality of impending retribution.

There is little outward drama but the tense silence in the Mill auditorium as we watched the clock tick down to the smell of a baking apple pie was astonishing. The production revisits the Mill Studio in February.