A Prayer for Wings ~ [The King's Head Theatre] ~ Review

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Set in Wales in the mid 80s, A Prayer for Wings is the story of a mother and daughter dealing with

the devastating reality of living with incurable disease. Mam has multiple sclerosis (MS), the effects

of which have left her bed ridden and unable to take care of herself. She’s been suffering from this

disease for years, her condition growing increasingly worse with time, and with no family or friends

around to help out it has fallen to her daughter, Rita, to be her full time carer. Rita is full of life but

unable to live, shackled by her responsibilities to her vulnerable mother whose sickness has made

her embittered and demanding. Tensions between the two women are high and growing more

strained with each passing day – we arrive when they are very nearly at breaking point and there’s a

sense that soon, somehow, in some way, something has to give.

The oppressive atmosphere is palpable the moment you walk into the theatre, both Mam and Rita

already on stage and laying lifeless in their beds. It feels like walking into a morgue. The house is old

fashioned, rundown, with shabby 70s decor. Mam’s room has a crucifix and a large portrait of Christ

hanging above the bed, whilst Rita sleeps on a fold out cot with her few meagre belongings

scattered about. The light is dim, the sounds of the sea and seagulls can be heard in the distance. It’s

abundantly clear that we aren’t here for a party.

But despite the depressing subject of the play it’s not all doom and gloom, in fact it’s actually rather

enjoyable. The story unfolds before us, the action plays out and both Mam and Rita speak to us

directly, breaking the fourth wall and sharing with us their innermost thoughts and feelings, which

they’re unable to communicate to each other. Their bickering is often amusing and their

monologuing quippy and full of wit.

Rita dreams of meeting a man who will whisk her away to a better life, someone who she can look

after because she wants to and not because she has to. She fantasises about simple pleasures –

going to the pictures and walking through a revolving door for the first time. But no such saviour

exists, and if he does she never goes out anywhere to get the opportunity to meet him. Instead she

has to content herself with the leering young men who hang around the street corner and pay her ‘a

couple of quid’ in exchange for sexual favours. Meanwhile Mam’s life seems to revolve around meal

times and what she's going to have for her lunch. The situation is desperate, the crumbling old

church they live in a desolate place, a prison isolated from the world of the living. We never leave

their home, trapped along with them, repeating the patterns of their miserable, mundane daily

routines over and over with each new day - it’s oppressive, claustrophobic, and maddening.

A Prayer for Wings achieves what seems to be the impossible and creates a static, stagnant play

environment filled with repetition and mundane drudgery that at not one single point feels at all

boring. It’s a gripping play from start to end, and this is in equal parts thanks to a fantastic script,

pristine direction, and truly outstanding performances from all three actors involved. Multi-rolling as

three different young men whom Rita brings home, Luke Rhodri manages to create such distinct

characters that I genuinely would have struggled to believe that they weren’t three separate actors

if I hadn’t had the programme on my lap. Llinos Daniel plays Mam, she’s cantankerous, prudish,

demanding, and self-absorbed, but she’s also very ill and we catch glimpses of the woman she was,

the woman she might still have been had she not been beaten down by her terrible illness, and

despite everything we sympathise with her. There’s such careful consideration and nuance brought

to this role that even in her nasty moments it’s very difficult to hate Mam. An equally strong

performance is given by Alis Wyn Davies in the role of Rita, somehow both charming and pitiful,

often at the same time. At multiple points throughout the play it was an effort not to stand up, wrap

her up in my arms, and run far away with her to give her a chance at some happiness, poor soul. If

her portrayal of Rita is anything to go by then Davies has big things in her future, its rare to see such

a vast range of different emotions played out so impeccably and with such perfect comedic and

tragic timing.

Important, moving, and technically faultless, Sean Mathias’s A Prayer for Wings is an absolute must

see. Do not miss it.



A Prayer for Wings ~ [The King's Head Theatre] ~ Review
★ ★ ★ ★ ★