This is the first-ever website dedicated solely to Sally Hawkins, the British rising star who has wowed us in a variety of roles in film, TV and theatre.
All information mentioned here is derived from extensive researches via the internet, printed publications, and personal encounters.
SALLY HAWKINS
Misconceptions
(Synopsis & Reviews)
Mathew and Linda are trying for a baby. Trying very hard. But the biological clock is ticking ever more loudly, so after years of failure, they decide to enlist the help of Mathew's friend Barry.
They persevere with their do-it-yourself fertility clinic, and though the results are still negative, they remain hopeful, until one night events take a totally unexpected turn.
"Misconceptions" is a hilarious and touching play about the games we play and why we play them. It explores topical issues of fertility, our biological place in the world, and reveals a very novel use for frozen summer fruits!
Critics' Reviews: (#1)
"...for an instance of how an out-and-out entertainment can possess greater substance without becoming preachy, Godber could pay a visit to the Bolton Octagon, where Simon Stallworthy has revived David Lewis' excellent comedy "Misconceptions". Calling it a comedy my raise expectations that this is laugh a minute stuff; in fact, Lewis' account of a marriage that's hit a dead end as a result of infertility (the man's) often has moments of sour hurt and recrimination.
The humour lies in Lewis' inserting enough absurd detail to make the couple slightly ridiculous without debasing them. Linda has a phobia about rats. Mathew - an adulterous lecturer who specialises in falling sperm counts - is obsessed with his condition. Out of desperation they have asked a dull accountant friend called Barry to donate some semen, a request that makes matters farcically worse.
Though the dialogue is overburdened with Mathew's biology teacher theorising, Lewis displays an acute understanding of the anxieties
and suspicions that lurk in us all. The acting is natural and assured. The show is accessible and intelligent. Populist theatre as it
should be."
~ Dominic Cavendish (Daily Telegraph, 31/1/01)
Critics' Reviews: (#2)
"The biological clock is ticking away for Linda (Yvonne O'Grady), 38; she and Matthew (Matthew Radford), a biology lecturer, cannot have a baby because of Matthew's low sperm count. She had one miscarriage seven years ago. They have now resorted to amateur fertilisation, with sperm in a tumbler from their friend Barry (Tom Roberts), an actuary who complains that he has had no sex during the current financial year. Matthew is not giving up, though, cooling his testicles with packets of frozen blackberries and wanting sex all the time, to the point where Linda begins to wonder whether he desires her or the product. The problem is that Matthew is a top?flight self-tormentor and, like all such men, an emotional bully: it's my fault, so pity me, damn you. He has also had an affair with a 23 year old pupil, Zoe (Sally Hawkins), who has faxed him a photograph of - no, this is a family newspaper. David Lewis' play is a tragicomic study in frustration, both physical and mental; about what happens when you want to give what you haven't got; or have what nobody can give you. The comic writing is spiky, painful, and sad; the tragedy is in the relationships and the way they collide across the minefield of needs. Simon Stallworthy directs briskly, resisting all temptation to be over-funny or over-glum. Radford's masochistic humour is horribly accurate, but he needs to watch his voice: he tends to swallow the ends of his words. O'Grady, watching herself with a tense, bruised face, in angry resignation, is excellent. I can't wait for Lewis's next play." ~ John Peter (The Sunday Times, 4/2/01)
