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Post by crowblack on Sept 9, 2017 20:44:11 GMT
came out not entirely sure what it was trying to say I saw it this afternoon too* and agree - Ben Whishaw carried it, with some excellent support, but the play itself meandered off leisurely in all directions like a snail race. I really enjoyed the university bits, but they seemed to belong to a different play. The Amazon scenes were pointless and lacklustre - Wish List skewered Amazon with infinitely more skill and humanity. The end seemed very random, too. Still, worth going for Ben Whishaw, so I'm glad I made the effort. Btw, sad to see that nearby gastropub the Old Queen's Head has changed the menu - I'm a mostly-vegetarian but do sometimes eat a pre-theatre burger when I'm in London (yeah, I know) and the 'Kevin Bacon' was in my brother's opinion the best burger in London. Alas, it is now almost all fried chicken and the burger was awful. *I was the puzzled-looking moon-faced old goth in specs and pond-coloured jumper that looks like a cat's been exercising its claws on it. |
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Post by tmesis on Sept 9, 2017 22:25:15 GMT
Just on the train back from this evening's performance. Yes it meanders and doesn't really go anywhere but I still really enjoyed it. Love the simple, but very fluid and lucid production. The lampooning of gender/sexual politics was excellently done and Ben Whishaw was superb.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 10, 2017 16:09:25 GMT
I felt it was let down by a disappointing final scene. Yes, particularly as, given the messianic theme, you knew pretty well how it was likely to end. I was hoping for something that would really pull it back and tie things together but it was just weirdly random. I don't feel like shelling out a tenner for the playscript to see if there was something important I missed, and the Amazon workers coda didn't help either. It kept reminding me of something (besides the obvious) - a 60s/70s film? Elements of They Might be Giants or, maybe slightly, of Wise Blood or Static (a lost 80s film which Mosquitoes brought to mind as well - warning: if you look at the little clip video on Youtube with the TheThe soundtrack, there's a massive spoiler in it!) |
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Post by Phantom of London on Sept 10, 2017 18:18:55 GMT
I caught the matinee yesterday.
This has been percolating at the Almeida for nearly 4 years, you would've thought a play with such a long creative time, something decent would've been put together, like its predecessor 'Ink'.
Just goes to prove what works on script doesn't always translate to stage.
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Post by peggs on Sept 10, 2017 20:16:07 GMT
We were all out yesterday weren't we, sadly I'd dressed for deepest autumn and the day turned summer so I was too busy necking water to do board member hunting.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 11, 2017 23:01:44 GMT
I wonder if it's a play that might work better as TV? Thinking about it, it seemed to have a Netflix, long-series kind of shape, that sort of meandering pace and feel, with lots of digressions.
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Post by Steve on Sept 14, 2017 10:55:35 GMT
Not had much time to comment lately, but I take the time to do so, as I ran into Parsley at this, which proved to be, along with Ben Whishaw's performance, one of the only things I liked about this. Some spoilers follow. . . This lost me from the start, when a chap, who, supposedly visited by God, barely registers the experience as unusual, reacting in an unbelievably plodding and sluggish way. Of course, this is not about God, but how wretched and sad humans are, but this author did better with the same themes in both the previous plays I've seen by him, at Royal Court and the Donmar. In fact, each play this author writes is less interesting than the last, as he assumes Orson Welles' mantle of living his life backwards. The good thing about hating the play, was getting to hate on it with Parsley, the master of hating on plays, who caned it with me in the interval. Parsley never got past the look of the guy with the huge muscles in the tight T-shirt, who I said I thought looked like a member of the crew of the Starship Enterprise, his t-shirt nike-symbol looking like a Starfleet insignia, which of course meant that his character was marked for slaughter. After all, only James T Kirk, or Ben Whishaw gets to dress like that and survive. Comparing this play to Ben Whishaw's previous Almeida show, Bakkhai, which I loved, I think what this show really lacked was a good antagonist to embody humanity's ennui. The Ben Whishaw/Bertie Carvel faceoff of Bakkhai was electrifying for me, especially as both characters had so much ying and yang in them you barely knew who to root for. Here, you not only knew who to root for, you knew there was no point doing it anyway, as the play was entirely lacking in thrust. 2 and a half stars, for Ben Whishaw (and Parsley too, who's powerful and expressive id this show lacked, to it's detriment, much like this board. Please come back Parsley!).  |
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Post by peggs on Sept 14, 2017 13:07:46 GMT
An interval rant of all things bad with Parsley, yes that would have made my visit much more interesting!
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Post by foxa on Sept 14, 2017 15:40:23 GMT
I saw this last Saturday but was hesitating to write anything because I didn't make it past the interval. It was the end of a long day and then the damn thing was so dull that I was seriously afraid I was going to nod off and end up in the lap of the stranger next to me. So I fled into the cool Islington night.
'Teddy Ferrera' was a very flawed play but, as Steve says, much better than this (or to be fair - what I saw of this.) 'Ferrera' seemed to be about real things, which this wasn't. I didn't even like Whishaw (who I know can be v. good) - I found him plodding and calculated and unappealing - there I've said it - but maybe he came into his own in the second half. I'll never know.
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Post by peggs on Sept 14, 2017 19:55:28 GMT
I think he was pretty consistent throughout foxa so if he did nothing for you in the first half probably wouldn't have done in the second. Hang on, he did change his t shirt!
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Post by kathryn on Sept 16, 2017 17:03:56 GMT
Oh dearie me.
At the interval my friend and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. I was actually wondering if it was meant to be a parody until we saw the tribute shrine thing at the front of the stalls.
It didn't improve after the interval.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 18, 2017 15:49:55 GMT
I was there too, Kathryn. Still formulating thoughts for my blog - but I got the idea that Shinn was one of those kids whose parents praised him for simply remembering to breathe, and nobody ever stopped telling him that his slightest utterance was purest gold. It's the only possible explanation. I counted about 12 walkouts after the interval, how many did you see? We didn't count - though we did notice the ushers re-seating people to fill gaps in the front stalls after the interval. They'd already had to fill gaps before the play started. Shame they didn't move us away from our pillar seats! I really did feel like it would have been a better play if it had been explicitly critical of the people who think they can solve the world's very complex problems just by talking (or listening). I felt sort of like it wanted the audience to be critical of Luke, and to find his efforts 'problematic', but at the same time it presented him and the subject matter *so* earnestly. It was so achingly PC. The best bit I thought was the creative writing teacher, because he was allowed to clearly be a bit of a dick, even though he sort of had a point at times. |
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Post by kathryn on Sept 18, 2017 19:38:13 GMT
It's made it onto my list of 'you think that's bad? Didn't you see ...?' plays.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2017 19:48:17 GMT
It's made it onto my list of 'you think that's bad? Didn't you see ...?' plays. I can confirm it was that bad that Kathryn tweeted me in the interval to add it to said list (which helpfully we'd begun a few days earlier) |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2017 2:53:39 GMT
I really enjoyed it, helped by watching it with the outlook that there was gold to be found in it.
EmiCardiff, how can you turn down a play with the first NT Angel in its cast?
I think of Christopher Shinn's plays as a sort of anti-cooking process. They're stuffed full of all the right ingredients but the audience has to do the actual cooking in their heads, hearts and loins. There probably is a secret recipe but most people end up with a different dish.
Christopher Shinn is one of my favourite playwrights, unleashing real people on the stage.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2017 7:20:36 GMT
I really enjoyed it, helped by watching it with the outlook that there was gold to be found in it. EmiCardiff, how can you turn down a play with the first NT Angel in its cast? I think of Christopher Shinn's plays as a sort of anti-cooking process. They're stuffed full of all the right ingredients but the audience has to do the actual cooking in their heads, hearts and loins. There probably is a secret recipe but most people end up with a different dish. Christopher Shinn is one of my favourite playwrights, unleashing real people on the stage. I can turn it down because I have limited means and limited time and don't live in London. |
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Post by showgirl on Sept 19, 2017 16:48:51 GMT
I really enjoyed it, helped by watching it with the outlook that there was gold to be found in it. EmiCardiff, how can you turn down a play with the first NT Angel in its cast? I think of Christopher Shinn's plays as a sort of anti-cooking process. They're stuffed full of all the right ingredients but the audience has to do the actual cooking in their heads, hearts and loins. There probably is a secret recipe but most people end up with a different dish. Christopher Shinn is one of my favourite playwrights, unleashing real people on the stage. Interesting interpretation, though no good for those who prefer ready-meals or even takeaways. Sounds a bit like Mosquitoes to me, i.e. there's a good play in there somewhere and the ingredients are promising but some work is needed to identify the best combination. As I've said, I quite liked this as it was though it could have been much better. |
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Post by kathryn on Sept 19, 2017 19:58:30 GMT
Takeaway?! Ready-meal !
How about a fully-prepared, perfectly cooked, dish. Michelin star theatre, that's what I want!
And served ON A PLATE not a sodding chopping board/slate/spade/old boot etc.
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Post by showgirl on Sept 20, 2017 4:35:51 GMT
I agree with the quirk-free servings, which in theatrical terms for me equates to no promenade performances, standing, puppetry, miming or interval-free productions. But the word Michelin in connection with dining is almost as much an anathema (and a turn-off) as was the loathsome concept of nouvelle cuisine. Give me a couple of decent platefuls of simple, solid, satisfying stodge, with plenty of carbs. The traditional "well-made play" perhaps?
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Post by kathryn on Sept 20, 2017 5:50:03 GMT
Can see this analogy is going to run and run!
(Disclaimer: I've never actually eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant.)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2017 16:55:45 GMT
Can see this analogy is going to run and run! (Disclaimer: I've never actually eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant.) I have. I was so hungry by the time I left that I had to get a pasty on the way home. I don't know how that fits into tha analogy though. |
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Post by joem on Sept 23, 2017 23:00:04 GMT
I think I'm in the minority here but, whilst it has its flaws, I enjoyed this. It was rather long but I didn;t find myself hoping it would finish soon.
The main problems for me were the lack of knowledge about the Whishaw character prior to his moment of revelation, the vagueness of his "mission" and some of the unnecessary (to me) subplots. I don't find the lack of conclusions which have been highlighted by some reviewers as so much of a problem. Theatre is meant to make you think not to offer solutions.
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Post by crowblack on Sept 24, 2017 8:20:02 GMT
whilst it has its flaws, I enjoyed this Yes - I didn't think it was bad, but it felt half-finished. I've seen several new plays by well-known names recently that I felt would be better with a few more rewrites. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2017 10:30:58 GMT
Yes - I didn't think it was bad, but it felt half-finished. I've seen several new plays by well-known names recently that I felt would be better with a few more rewrites. Funny, I wondered after the last scene if it was over-finished. It seemed maybe a little too pat to see intimacy vanquish violence. Anyway, Against is one of my best plays of the year. I love the immersion in the characters and their situations. I always emerge from a Christopher Shinn play comparing my own life and reviewing where I'm going. |
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Post by joem on Sept 24, 2017 16:56:52 GMT
Yes - I didn't think it was bad, but it felt half-finished. I've seen several new plays by well-known names recently that I felt would be better with a few more rewrites. Funny, I wondered after the last scene if it was over-finished. It seemed maybe a little too pat to see intimacy vanquish violence. Anyway, Against is one of my best plays of the year. I love the immersion in the characters and their situations. I always emerge from a Christopher Shinn play comparing my own life and reviewing where I'm going. How would you say intimacy vanquished violence in Against? |
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