Inspired by the infamous feud between Hollywood actors Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, Bette & Joan is set in the bedroom of Bette Davis – where, in the last moments of her life, she is lying in bed wearing a nightie and hairnet, grumbling about her glamorous past whilst clutching a picture of her daughter in one hand, a drink in the other. Projected onto the back of the stage, watching over her, are the notorious gossips Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons who decide that Bette is in need of some help in crossing over to ‘Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood’ – an afterlife for the famous – and who better to take on the task than Joan Crawford?
Sarah Thom (Bette Davis) and Sarah Toogood (Joan Crawford) together on stage are perfect as the two ‘old broads’ battling it out. Their dialogue is perfectly timed, sharp and witty, with Thom providing a particularly strong characterisation of a broken, self-obsessed woman, sitting in her room compulsively taking off and reapplying ridiculous make-up and fanciful wigs.
There are countless references to What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, the only film they ever starred in together, fusing the horror from the film with crude, slapstick humour, resulting in a twisted, not to mention surreal, look at their relationship. There’s a masturbation with an Oscar scene that you are unlikely to forget!
Despite the assortment of comic scenes, the overall impression from Bette & Joan is that the life of these so-called glamorous women was actually rather tragic. Behind them is a trail of destruction – failed marriages, domestic abuse, abortions – showing the sacrifice they paid to have a career in Hollywood. We are left with a lingering image of two wrecked women that gradually became a parody of the psychotic, lonely characters they played many years ago in What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?.
A gritty yet funny piece of devised theatre, Bette & Joan ensures that lovers of the Hollywood icons won’t be disappointed.