The Homecoming - Young Vic

[jr]

Dec 20, 2023 7:25:42 GMT Jan said:

I quite enjoyed this. 3*. However there is way too much direction going on - the ear-splitting jazz, the ambient sound and cymbal crashes, the smoke, the spotlights. All unnecessary. Also the set is wrong - it looks like some huge airy minimalist 2023 designer room when it should be 1950's small and claustrophobic. Even the record player and old vinyl record sleeves makes it look very contemporary.

Apart from Nicholas Tennant I don't think I have seen any of the actors before. I suppose some are famous from TV. But none of them were very compelling on stage. The acting was uneven, not in quality particularly but in style. Some could have been in an Alan Ayckbourn play, some in an Arthur Miller, and one in King Lear - also a failure of direction I think. One the whole the 2016 Jamie Lloyd production was better.

We are at the stage now where Pinter's plays will start disappearing from the repertoire. I can't remember the last time the NT staged one and for a British Nobel Prize winning playwright that seems odd for Britain's national theatre. I doubt this particular play will be revived again any time soon, or ever. I wonder which of his plays will survive - No Man's Land as a star vehicle maybe, and Betrayal which is somewhat untypical of his work. I've seen almost all of his plays but new theatregoers won't be able to.

Apart from Betrayal, there was the Pinter season with All his short plays. And, more or less recently, a West End production of The birthday party with Stepehn Mangan, Zoe Wannamaker, etc. I don't think there is any risk of Pinter plays not being produced.

[Jan]

Dec 20, 2023 7:31:23 GMT jr said:

Dec 20, 2023 7:25:42 GMT Jan said:

I quite enjoyed this. 3*. However there is way too much direction going on - the ear-splitting jazz, the ambient sound and cymbal crashes, the smoke, the spotlights. All unnecessary. Also the set is wrong - it looks like some huge airy minimalist 2023 designer room when it should be 1950's small and claustrophobic. Even the record player and old vinyl record sleeves makes it look very contemporary.

Apart from Nicholas Tennant I don't think I have seen any of the actors before. I suppose some are famous from TV. But none of them were very compelling on stage. The acting was uneven, not in quality particularly but in style. Some could have been in an Alan Ayckbourn play, some in an Arthur Miller, and one in King Lear - also a failure of direction I think. One the whole the 2016 Jamie Lloyd production was better.

We are at the stage now where Pinter's plays will start disappearing from the repertoire. I can't remember the last time the NT staged one and for a British Nobel Prize winning playwright that seems odd for Britain's national theatre. I doubt this particular play will be revived again any time soon, or ever. I wonder which of his plays will survive - No Man's Land as a star vehicle maybe, and Betrayal which is somewhat untypical of his work. I've seen almost all of his plays but new theatregoers won't be able to.

Apart from Betrayal, there was the Pinter season with All his short plays. And, more or less recently, a West End production of The birthday party with Stepehn Mangan, Zoe Wannamaker, etc. I don't think there is any risk of Pinter plays not being produced.

I'm taking the long view. People said that about Emlyn Williams, Arnold Wesker, David Storey, Beverley Nichols, John Osborne, Simon Gray and a host of others. Terence Rattigan went unproduced for decades after his death, likewise many Arthur Miller plays in USA while he weas still alive. There are vanishingly few Alan Ayckbourn plays revived now compared with 30 years ago. It happens to most playwrights, a small number of their more famous works may stay in the repertoire but the rest vanish. It will happen to Pinter too and given its content I don't see this particular play being revived much, in fact I'm surprised the YV did and some of the critics agree. 

[zahidf]

Dec 20, 2023 8:04:27 GMT Jan said:

Dec 20, 2023 7:31:23 GMT jr said:

Apart from Betrayal, there was the Pinter season with All his short plays. And, more or less recently, a West End production of The birthday party with Stepehn Mangan, Zoe Wannamaker, etc. I don't think there is any risk of Pinter plays not being produced.

I'm taking the long view. People said that about Emlyn Williams, Arnold Wesker, David Storey, Beverley Nichols, John Osborne, Simon Gray and a host of others. Terence Rattigan went unproduced for decades after his death, likewise many Arthur Miller plays in USA while he weas still alive. There are vanishingly few Alan Ayckbourn plays revived now compared with 30 years ago. It happens to most playwrights, a small number of their more famous works may stay in the repertoire but the rest vanish. It will happen to Pinter too and given its content I don't see this particular play being revived much, in fact I'm surprised the YV did and some of the critics agree. 

I guess it depends how long a view you want to take: in our lifetimes, i imagine theyll be constant revivals of Pinter. Dumb Waiter seems to get a london revivial every year or so!

Ive seen 4 different homecomings in london for example in the last 12 years or so for example

[Jan]

Dec 20, 2023 8:34:22 GMT zahidf said:

Dec 20, 2023 8:04:27 GMT Jan said:

I'm taking the long view. People said that about Emlyn Williams, Arnold Wesker, David Storey, Beverley Nichols, John Osborne, Simon Gray and a host of others. Terence Rattigan went unproduced for decades after his death, likewise many Arthur Miller plays in USA while he weas still alive. There are vanishingly few Alan Ayckbourn plays revived now compared with 30 years ago. It happens to most playwrights, a small number of their more famous works may stay in the repertoire but the rest vanish. It will happen to Pinter too and given its content I don't see this particular play being revived much, in fact I'm surprised the YV did and some of the critics agree. 

I guess it depends how long a view you want to take: in our lifetimes, i imagine theyll be constant revivals of Pinter. Dumb Waiter seems to get a london revivial every year or so!

Ive seen 4 different homecomings in london for example in the last 12 years or so for example

Yes Dumb Waiter is a good call for one with staying power - Hampstead were planning a production of it which was cancelled due to Covid but it has never reappeared. But fashion will turn against Pinter just as it did against Rattigan and Osborne and that can happen at any time. 

[bordeaux]

I was going to come on here with a list of recent major Pinter revivals I've seen but then realised that most of them were pre-2002 when I left London. I think Pinter is in a different league to the other writers you mention, Jan, and I can't imagine that the big plays won't get major revivals from time to time over the years. When, though, was the last major Caretaker revival? I can't think of one since the Patrick Marber one with Michael Gambon and that was presumably 2000? The Bath Ustinov is reviving The Lover/The Collection in the Spring with David Morrissey.

Ayckbourn is an interesting one, as you say. Down in the west country we seem to get Relatively Speaking in Bath every two or three years, but nothing else on tour. Matthew Warchus did a superb Norman Conquests a few years back. But those big plays where he was at the height of his reputation as a serious comic dramatist haven't had much interest as far as I can see. Has there ever been a revival of Man of the Moment, for example, which was one of Gambon's finest hours?

[Rory]

Dec 20, 2023 9:06:40 GMT bordeaux said:

I was going to come on here with a list of recent major Pinter revivals I've seen but then realised that most of them were pre-2002 when I left London. I think Pinter is in a different league to the other writers you mention, Jan, and I can't imagine that the big plays won't get major revivals from time to time over the years. When, though, was the last major Caretaker revival? I can't think of one since the Patrick Marber one with Michael Gambon and that was presumably 2000? The Bath Ustinov is reviving The Lover/The Collection in the Spring with David Morrissey.

Ayckbourn is an interesting one, as you say. Down in the west country we seem to get Relatively Speaking in Bath every two or three years, but nothing else on tour. Matthew Warchus did a superb Norman Conquests a few years back. But those big plays where he was at the height of his reputation as a serious comic dramatist haven't had much interest as far as I can see. Has there ever been a revival of Man of the Moment, for example, which was one of Gambon's finest hours?

The last major revival of The Caretaker was at the Old Vic in 2016. Matthew Warchus directed Timothy Spall, Daniel Mays and George Mackay.

Before that, I think, was the Trafalgar Studios transfer from Bath of Christopher Morahan's revival in 2010 with Jonathan Pryce, Peter McDonald and Sam Spruell.

[zahidf]

Dec 20, 2023 9:15:11 GMT Rory said:

Dec 20, 2023 9:06:40 GMT bordeaux said:

I was going to come on here with a list of recent major Pinter revivals I've seen but then realised that most of them were pre-2002 when I left London. I think Pinter is in a different league to the other writers you mention, Jan, and I can't imagine that the big plays won't get major revivals from time to time over the years. When, though, was the last major Caretaker revival? I can't think of one since the Patrick Marber one with Michael Gambon and that was presumably 2000? The Bath Ustinov is reviving The Lover/The Collection in the Spring with David Morrissey.

Ayckbourn is an interesting one, as you say. Down in the west country we seem to get Relatively Speaking in Bath every two or three years, but nothing else on tour. Matthew Warchus did a superb Norman Conquests a few years back. But those big plays where he was at the height of his reputation as a serious comic dramatist haven't had much interest as far as I can see. Has there ever been a revival of Man of the Moment, for example, which was one of Gambon's finest hours?

The last major revival of The Caretaker was at the Old Vic in 2016. Matthew Warchus directed Timothy Spall, Daniel Mays and George Mackay.

Before that, I think, was the Trafalgar Studios transfer from Bath of Christopher Morahan's revival in 2010 with Jonathan Pryce, Peter McDonald and Sam Spruell.

 I remember one in 2007 at the tricycle with David Bradley and Con o Neil

[bee]

Dec 20, 2023 8:52:38 GMT Jan said:

Dec 20, 2023 8:34:22 GMT zahidf said:

I guess it depends how long a view you want to take: in our lifetimes, i imagine theyll be constant revivals of Pinter. Dumb Waiter seems to get a london revivial every year or so!

Ive seen 4 different homecomings in london for example in the last 12 years or so for example

Yes Dumb Waiter is a good call for one with staying power - Hampstead were planning a production of it which was cancelled due to Covid but it has never reappeared. But fashion will turn against Pinter just as it did against Rattigan and Osborne and that can happen at any time. 

The Hampstead production of Dumb Waiter did in fact go ahead, I saw it. Seating was still socially distanced at the time.

[Jan]

Dec 20, 2023 11:33:34 GMT bee said:

Dec 20, 2023 8:52:38 GMT Jan said:

Yes Dumb Waiter is a good call for one with staying power - Hampstead were planning a production of it which was cancelled due to Covid but it has never reappeared. But fashion will turn against Pinter just as it did against Rattigan and Osborne and that can happen at any time. 

The Hampstead production of Dumb Waiter did in fact go ahead, I saw it. Seating was still socially distanced at the time.

Oh did it ? That’s odd, they gave me a credit note when it was originally postponed, I must have missed the news of its return.

[marob]

The only time I’ve ever seen any Pinter is in London. A tour of The Birthday Party was advertised a few years ago, but I googled it and it was to have opened in April 2020, so that wouldn’t have happened.

But there’s lots of writers who very rarely get performed regionally. Aren’t Ayckbourne and Caryl Churchill supposed to be among the most performed playwrights after Shakespeare? You wouldn’t know it looking at any of the theatres near me.

Anyway, I saw this particular production last week. I thought it was fairly dull, only really livening up near the end. And as said above, too many annoying touches added by the director.

[andbingowashisname]

Dec 20, 2023 9:15:11 GMT Rory said:

The last major revival of The Caretaker was at the Old Vic in 2016. Matthew Warchus directed Timothy Spall, Daniel Mays and George Mackay.

Before that, I think, was the Trafalgar Studios transfer from Bath of Christopher Morahan's revival in 2010 with Jonathan Pryce, Peter McDonald and Sam Spruell.

I am led to believe that The Caretaker is about to get another fairly major production in 2024.

[Jan]

Dec 20, 2023 10:04:25 GMT zahidf said:

Dec 20, 2023 9:15:11 GMT Rory said:

The last major revival of The Caretaker was at the Old Vic in 2016. Matthew Warchus directed Timothy Spall, Daniel Mays and George Mackay.

Before that, I think, was the Trafalgar Studios transfer from Bath of Christopher Morahan's revival in 2010 with Jonathan Pryce, Peter McDonald and Sam Spruell.

 I remember one in 2007 at the tricycle with David Bradley and Con o Neil

The only production of the play not mentioned so far that I have seen was in 1991 directed by Pinter with Donald Pleasance (reprising his role from the original production) and Colin Firth. Amazing to think that production from so long ago was the 30th anniversary production of the play. 

[bee]

Dec 20, 2023 13:18:52 GMT Jan said:

Dec 20, 2023 11:33:34 GMT bee said:

The Hampstead production of Dumb Waiter did in fact go ahead, I saw it. Seating was still socially distanced at the time.

Oh did it ? That’s odd, they gave me a credit note when it was originally postponed, I must have missed the news of its return.

Yes, looking back at the reviews now it was supposed to run from early December 2020 till the end of January 2021. I'm guessing the run must have got cut short when full lockdown got reintroduced for Christmas 2020.

[prefab]

Saw this tonight, and it was honestly better than I expected, with the actors getting into the rhythms of Pinter's language. But I'd agree with the general consensus that the directorial flourishes added absolutely nothing, and the set and costume design seemed all wrong. (Ruth was the only one in period-appropriate dresses, while Joe looked like all his clothes came straight from JD Sports). Joe Cole did some very entertaining physical comedy, but he seemed all wrong for Lenny, not nearly intimidating enough. And Jared Harris was very good in quieter scenes, but went a little too over-the-top in his shouting scenes; it almost felt like he was gearing up for a West End transfer to a larger theatre.

[stevemar]

Pinter is frustrating, absurd and usually fascinating for me. Despite the actors trying hard, something is off in this production.

I can only attribute that to the staging and particularly the director’s choices. The room is supposed to be claustrophobic but we get an airy (if dry iced filled) cavernous house. The characters fight and make their speeches, but the danger doesn’t seem to be there and it seems to hark back to the past with the stark lighting overemphasising certain memories. Ruth seems to have worked out how to deal with these men from the outset, so that element of surprise/danger is missing.

3 stars.

[andrew]

Dec 24, 2023 16:34:26 GMT stevemar said:

but we get an airy (if dry iced filled) cavernous house

Did you not see the seven hundred insistent signs declaring it a "water based haze"?

And it is an extreme level of haze at the start of act 1 for what's actually an empty house.

[aspieandy]

hello, I wondered if the haze was intended to represent London fog (various clean air Acts beginning in the late 1950s).

Also not sure about the house being claustrophobic - my copy of the play says 'An old house. North London. A large room, extending the width of the stage' (as we know, two rooms have been knocked through). That was for the 1965 Peter Hall production at the Aldwych Theatre.

It is magnificently creative writing done justice by a very decent group. Pinter has developed into his own artist at this point, belief and confidence set - only another 40-years before the Nobel. It's an achievement to script this world, and let it be.

Unaware of Lisa Diveney before this role, she carries Ruth very well.

I'd be interested in understanding the director's rationale for a thrust stage ..

[David J]

I wouldn't say the set needs to be claustrophobic at all. I think it is the cast that need to bring that claustrophobia with the right amount of tension, as I witnessed in the 2012 RSC production. Unease might be a better word. Granted last years tour set felt too big and seeing this productions photos don't give me a sense of unease.

And a thrust stage is fine and the closeness of the action could add to the tension so long as the director know what he's doing with it. I point to the RSC production again in the Swan Theatre.

[stevemar]

Dec 26, 2023 22:41:53 GMT andrew said:

Dec 24, 2023 16:34:26 GMT stevemar said:

but we get an airy (if dry iced filled) cavernous house

Did you not see the seven hundred insistent signs declaring it a "water based haze"?

And it is an extreme level of haze at the start of act 1 for what's actually an empty house.

Oh, I didn’t! Anyhow, it was really too hazy…

[Jan]

Dec 27, 2023 13:59:28 GMT aspieandy said:

Also not sure about the house being claustrophobic - my copy of the play says 'An old house. North London. A large room, extending the width of the stage' (as we know, two rooms have been knocked through). That was for the 1965 Peter Hall production at the Aldwych Theatre.

 Here's a production photo from that 1965 production.

[aspieandy]

Thanks. With Mrs Pinter* as Ruth.

Here's Billington's helpful review of the 2011, with references to the 1965 production (as well as a link to 1997 at the Lyttleton): www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/aug/04/the-homecoming-review

* as was

[zahidf]

I thought this was fine. Seemed to emphasis the comedy over the menace in the piece, i never really felt any danger from the characters. Joe Cole especially seems to be playing his character as if it was a comedy.

[theatrelover97]

Quite surprised to discover the Young Vic don't accept tickets back for resale unless it's sold out. Normally its only the commercial theatres with that policy. At least they gave me a voucher but its only 6 months so not likely I will be able to use it as the reasons stopping me going from most shows won't be resolved that quickly.

[Rory]

Jan 9, 2024 18:49:16 GMT theatrelover97 said:

Quite surprised to discover the Young Vic don't accept tickets back for resale unless it's sold out. Normally its only the commercial theatres with that policy. At least they gave me a voucher but its only 6 months so not likely I will be able to use it as the reasons stopping me going from most shows won't be resolved that quickly.

I could be wrong on this, so perhaps just check, but I think you have to only book a show within the 6 months of the credit being issued, as opposed to having to see one within that period. So if they release a season you could book for something a bit further down the line maybe.

[andrew]

Jan 9, 2024 18:49:16 GMT theatrelover97 said:

Quite surprised to discover the Young Vic don't accept tickets back for resale unless it's sold out. Normally its only the commercial theatres with that policy. At least they gave me a voucher but its only 6 months so not likely I will be able to use it as the reasons stopping me going from most shows won't be resolved that quickly.

You could book something, then cancel in 6 months and get another voucher?