The Oyster Problem - Jermyn Street Theatre

[bee]

This is good. It concerns the latter years of the life of Gustave Flaubert and his attempts to stave off bankruptcy. In a sense not much happens, the story such as it is is about Flaubert's friends Zola, Sand and Turgenev trying to use their influence to get him a Government sinecure, but this is really more of an excuse for everyone to sit around and discuss the nature of art, and the extent to which an artist should compromise their integrity for the sake of earning a living. That makes it sound a bit dry and, frankly, it is, but I ended up liking it a lot and was rather moved by the end. Worth a visit for anyone with an interest in literature I think.

[joem]

Orlando Figes is best known as a historian who has written mostly about Russian history - I can indeed recommend his masterful account of the Russian Civil War: "A People's Tragedy". Also, less fortunately, for some kind of internet scandal where he was allegedly dissing other historians' work, whilst promoting his own, with the use of pseudonyms. The Oyster Problem is his first staged play; no doubt his research has been put to good use here.

The play deals with the writer Gustave Flaubert's financial and personal travails through a series of set-piece scenes mostly featuring him interacting with his friends and fellow-writers Emile Zola and Ivan Turgenev, who try and help him with varying success.

Not a bad effort but it feels a bit writing-by-numbers at times and it's only about a third into the play that it becomes clear whose story this is (Flaubert's) rather than a play about three writing celebs.