Last Updated on July 18, 2025
Meet the Randolphs…
Premiered in 1938, ‘Dear Octopus’ covers a weekend in the lives of the Randolph family, gathered for a golden wedding anniversary. It’s a poignant comedy that explores the dynamics of a large eccentric English family. The title is a quote from the opening address at the golden wedding dinner by Nicholas, the youngest son of Charles and Dora Randolph.
To the family—that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.
Dear Octopus is set within a specific historical context marked by major societal changes. The interwar period between World War I and World War II was characterised by economic instability, political tension and social upheaval. Another world war is looming – the play premiered in the year of the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany and of the Munich Agreement allowing Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. The memory of World War I looms throughout the play with foreboding radio messages about the current situation punctuating the drama. Whilst Nicholas (Billy Howle) tells us that he narrowly escaped the fighting, we learn that his older brother was killed fighting in the war.
It’s against this backdrop of societal change that we are given a glimpse into the lives of a fairly ordinary, upper-middle-class family navigating their own internal dynamics and relationships.
As Charles Randolph, Malcolm Sinclair cuts a role that is reminiscent at times of a John Cleese character while his wife Dora (Lindsay Duncan) is a charming, eloquent and refined woman who lapses into the kind of cynical commentary I could imagine my own mother making.
The tension between Dora and Aunt Belle (Kate Fahy), who turns out to have only married William Randolph because Charles was not available, is palpable, for the most part revolving around who has aged better. This is a generation though that is aware of change, albeit accepting it at times with reluctance.
Cynthia (Bethan Cullinane), the ‘prodigal daughter’ has returned from Paris and Dora is determined to uncover the mystery which has kept her there for seven years. Dora’s unexpected acceptance of Cynthia’s failed relationship with a married man is poignant and another indicator of a fluctuating society. An empathetic characterisation, it is obvious why the emotionally fragile Scrap (played last night by Isla Ithier) was charmed by her elegant aunt. All three children were convincing, Ariella Elkin-Green as the appropriately named Flouncy and Felix Tandon as the precocious Bill. Each offered the vision of a child into the absurdities of adulthood.
The main storyline revolves around Fenny (Bessie Carter) and Nicholas. She has come to the house as Dora’s companion, a perfectly mannered young lady who appears to have no family of her own. While the rest of the family recognises her crush on Nicholas, he remains blissfully ignorant. An advertising executive, he’s bright and endearing with an insightful and cutting edge for the most part. A young John Gielgud was originally cast in the role which is now brilliantly reprised by Billy Howle. Fenny was portrayed as a complex and challenging individual, looking for her way in life in a changing world.
Dodie Smith herself said
‘Dear Octopus is a play of lamplight, candlelight, firelight, sunset deepening into twilight…’
Directed by Emily Burns, with set and costume design by Frankie Bradshaw and lighting by Oliver Fenwick, the revolving rooms of the house were beautifully created with family portraits on the panelled walls, oil lamps and a fire blazing in the hearth producing smoke.
Despite the inter-war context, there’s a timelessness about the family relationship themes that makes Dear Octopus worth seeing. The dialogue is perceptive and thought-provoking while the plot itself is a classic, if simple, love story.
Dear Octopus is showing until 27 March 2024
Dear Octopus
Lyttelton at the National Theatre,
South Bank,
London SE1 9PX
Looking for something different? We highly recommend Till the Stars Come Down, also showing at The National
Leave a Reply