The Faith Healer

[bellboard27]

Two more in:

The Stage (MS): 5 stars
Daily Mail (QL): 3 stars

[viserys]

5 stars from the Guardian (Billington) as well.

Quite a relief as I was beginning to regret that I had bought a (full price) ticket merely on the strength of seeing Stephen Dillane and Gina McKee live on stage (without knowing that this was four monologues and not a 'normal' play)

[bellboard27]

And:
Eve Standard: 4 stars
WOS: 4 stars

[DuchessConstance]

So Dillane learnt his lines then?

[Deleted]

Either that or he's purposefully cultivated his mumbling style so he can cover any lapses by descending into making meaningless noises, and the critics are assuming that's just how he acts and nothing to do with his memory at all.

[brenth]

Jun 25, 2016 23:12:05 GMT @parsley said:

Jun 25, 2016 23:00:05 GMT Steve said:

Parsley, Parsley, there's no one like Parsley,
He's at so very many plays, yet spotted only sparsely.
You may see him in the first half, if you see him anywhere —
But in the play's second half, Parsley's not there!

I regretted buying the ticket the moment the line flubs started happening, and wished I went next week instead, but when I trialed the £10 Barclays tickets two weeks ago, and got offered front facing stalls, I couldn't resist.

Incidentally, I believe Ken Stott flubbed his lines playing the same part at the Almeida press night years ago. Apparently Brian Friel was none too happy, as his words are everything to him, so Stephen Dillane had better get some practice in. I think it's a mesmerising play, but line flubs throw you right out of it, and the hypnotic intensity of those poetic words is lost.

Anyway, it's too early in previews to moan, so what I will highlight is that Ron Cook is giving one of his best performances in this. He's absolutely wonderful, blunt, forceful and hilariously funny!

This is a play of 4 monologues. At present, the first and fourth, by Dillane, need work. The second, by Gina McKee is dreamy, sad and mesmeric. But that third monologue by Cook is the absolute bees knees.

Obviously, this play can't work as it should if all 4 monologues are not tip top because the Rashomon-like structure requires complete concentration on all 4, combining the action of each in your mind to build up a full picture of the events that each of the monologues describe.

So for now, at this early preview, the only thing I'm genuinely over the moon about is Ron Cook.

I will consider going again later in the run, depending on the word of others, as tonight, this just didn't cohere for me.

In fact, the audience didn't even realise when the play had finished at fade out, and noone started clapping until the lights came back on, and all the actors returned to take their bows. Needless to say, the actors did not come back out a second time.

Love love my song

Thank you
Xxxx

We love Parsley, the one true constant in an ever changing and urcertain world.

[jek]

Have woken up this morning still thinking about this having seen it yesterday afternoon. For me it was a real winner but then, unlike a lot of people on this board and its predecessor, I really enjoyed the Lyndsey Turner/Es Devlin production of Light Shining In Buckinghamshire at the National. There was certainly no mumbling or lack of connection from Stephen Dillane and Gina McKee and Ron Cook were as excellent as other posters have suggested. I had a £10 front row seat and it was certainly more than worth the price of admission.

[popcultureboy]

It would seem they really ramped up after 1st preview. I went to see it this week. Zero line flubs, spot on performances from all 3. I loved it, was totally mesmerised by it. I wonder if there is an option for it to do a bit of an extension, as there is a long gap between the end of it and the start of the autumn season.

[finalperformance]

Saw it years ago on Broadway with James Mason and his wife. He was good to see but the show was boring and I will never sit through it again.

[alexandra]

I saw the first preview on 23rd (not the night the others reported on) and there were no line errors that I noticed. It's an exquisite, thoughtful play and they performed it brilliantly. I remember Ian McDiarmid was a fantastic Teddy in the Almeida production; Cook was less funny and jaunty, but I quite liked the darker interpretation. Dillane was superb. 5 stars from the Telegraph as well as the Guardian.

[Phantom of London]

Anyone knows the running time please?

[showgirl]

Website says 2 h 20 incl interval.

[Phantom of London]

Thanks - that gives me 12 minutes to get to Charing Cross, nice!!

[foxa]

I thought this was exquisite.

I had been in two minds about booking for this, especially as I'm not keen on monologues, but then bought a couple of inexpensive circle seats, thinking that Friel always has something worth saying. I'm glad I did.

The writing is beautiful and the way it layers with the different characters' perspectives was breath-taking. I couldn't choose a favourite performance (and there were no noticeable flubs from anyone) but I thought Ron Cook's section benefited from our having heard the other character's versions. I felt both amused and moved by it. Gina McKee, as always, was very good. Dillane I sometimes find too muted, but in this, except for a distracting resemblance to Jeremy Corbyn, he just drew you in. Very truthful, nuanced, complex.


So brief show report:
Animals: None but good story about a whippet.
Bottled water: £2.50 and warm.
Running time: We were told 2 hours 15 when we went in.
Set: Lovely and the water curtain also doubles as extra air-conditioning.
Take away: Something about the painfulness of love and the unreliability of memories. But largely, for me, it was the beauty of the language.
Recommended: Yes.

[Phantom of London]

Hi Foxa was I sitting next to you tonight, I was in the circle too (A10).

I enjoyed the play also, but find monologues hard work, as the actors have no one to work with to develop their personalities, but being able to do this, takes some deft acting, all 3 performance were very good, with Gina McKee's one being the best.

I didn't have a clue what the rain shower was about and what it represented? What it represented for me, is that they hadn't spent their budget and needed some effect to dazzle the audience, so a bit sychophanatic.

Didn't love it, but then again, didn't hate it either.

3 stars

[popcultureboy]

To me the rain shower represented that Josie Rourke has had enough of the heinous Donmar audience wandering across the stage to get their seats before then putting their feet up on it like they're at home and is finding ways to stop it. And for that I say brava.

[foxa]

Sorry we missed you, Phantom, we were in B34/35 in the circle (my favourite cheap seats.) Hope you made your train.

Popcultureboy may have a point - everyone who bought tickets was sent this: 'ROW A STALLS TICKET HOLDERS
Due to the nature of the set, patrons with tickets in row A of the stalls are advised not to access their seats by walking on the stage. Please use the aisle immediately in front of the seating and please accommodate other patrons who will be asking you to stand up to access their seat.'

For me, at first I was just grateful for the rain curtain because we'd had a quick, sticky walk getting there, but then I rather fell in love with it. The characters visited all these rainy Celtic places, so I thought it represented that, but it also added to the magical, otherworldly quality of the play, and, on a practical level, made the scene changes impressive.

Like Phantom, I'm not a fan of monologues and for similar reasons (one big exception is Daniel Kitson who I love) but this entirely won me over, perhaps helped by my low expectations. We've been talking about it a lot this morning and we still feel moved by it (a very rare accolade but my husband who often hates what I drag him to said he'd like to see it again.)

Oh, and I'm glad we saw it without line flubs - I think that really would have spoiled it. You needed to be drawn entirely in to their world and to trust them.

[Phantom of London]

You were the other side to me then, take it you didn't do the Monday Front Row tickets then?

Didn't make the train,mbut could of, with all that heat yesterday and it was very muggy, my legs felt leaden, so stopped off to buy a drink for the journey home, in fairness I bought other bits and made some food up when I got home, rather than getting a take out, so didn't lose anytime.

[bellboard27]

I enjoyed this. Gina McKee was great, but more me Ron Cook stole the show. Stephen Dillane's first outing was good, but I felt there was something odd in his second appearance - he seemed to run out of steam leading to an oddly weak end. Overall, though, a positive outing.

[peggs]

Now whilst I agreed with the man sat next to me that if a play needs a gimmick (yes Wild i'm looking at you) maybe it isn't such a great play and I didn't really understand the water I did like it, I'm a sucker for a bit of ohhhhh how have they done that (how did the scene changes happen? from the back?) and there was something very refreshing and hypnotic about all that water and the light bouncing off it. Had to resist temptation to touch but everyone else did seem rather unimpressed by it.

Took me a while to relax into this, have only seen one monologue before and wasn't taken but this worked for me. Gina McKee was great, broken, vulnerable and Ron Cook both very funny and touching. Stephen Dillane not so good but perhaps how do you play the one they're all talking about? The ending caught me rather by surprise but for £10 no complaints.

[Hana PlaysAndParasols]

Saw this last night, I agree with those of you saying Stephen Dillane was a bit mumbly and bland. I felt profoundly disconnected during his first monologue (I sat on the side) so it was really difficult for me to follow everything he was saying. Sadly I didn't research beforehand what the nature of the play was going to be, I would have probably somehow forced myself to listen more carefully... Most of all his total lack of charisma didn't make sense with everything the other characters were saying about him - I am still so confused if that was intentional.

Gina McKee is doing a Masterclass this afternoon, I'm looking forward to hearing what she says about the play.

[foxa]

Aug 12, 2016 8:33:20 GMT Hana PlaysAndParasols said:

Saw this last night, I agree with those of you saying Stephen Dillane was a bit mumbly and bland. I felt profoundly disconnected during his first monologue (I sat on the side) so it was really difficult for me to follow everything he was saying. Sadly I didn't research beforehand what the nature of the play was going to be, I would have probably somehow forced myself to listen more carefully... Most of all his total lack of charisma didn't make sense with everything the other characters were saying about him - I am still so confused if that was intentional.

Gina McKee is doing a Masterclass this afternoon, I'm looking forward to hearing what she says about the play.

Report back - love to know what she says.

[Hana PlaysAndParasols]

Aug 12, 2016 10:10:58 GMT foxa said:

Report back - love to know what she says.

She basically said the Faith Healer was one of the best projects she ever worked on, talked very well about Lyndsey Turner.
She defined the topic of the play as how we choose to use memory, to use our past to justify our present.
As for the method she said they all learnt the text before rehearsals, then discussed everything for 2 weeks, then rehearsed separately, checking back with each other at the end (and it was sort of better not to watch each other not to end up sort of in between).
She was incredibly lovely. I am definitely going to watch out for her next work based on both her performance and the way she talked about things :-)

[Marwood]

Saw this last night and enjoyed it, I certainly wouldn't describe it as a 5 star production but I liked it without thinking I was witnessing anything profound - no line flubs from anyone involved, but I just thought Dillane's performance seemed a little bit too subdued compared to McKee and Cook, I didn't get the impression that he was playing Frank as a person that the other two would follow around the British Isles.

[Hana PlaysAndParasols]

Aug 14, 2016 18:31:15 GMT Marwood said:

a person that the other two would follow around the British Isles.

I really wish someone like Bill Nighy played the healer, I would totally follow him anywhere :-D