3,564 posts
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Post by showgirl on May 19, 2019 12:42:07 GMT
Quite a muted response from a 3/4 full audience who were very Chichester (Pale, stale and failing) LOVED this remark - so accurate and I consider myself proud to be pale, stale and failing!!! Indeed, but not only the audience.... |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2019 19:43:39 GMT
Quite a muted response from a 3/4 full audience who were very Chichester ( Pale, stale and failing) LOVED this remark - so accurate and I consider myself proud to be pale, stale and failing!!! Ohhh, I thought they were talking about the show! |
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Post by missthelma on May 20, 2019 10:31:39 GMT
To be fair it could apply to either the production or the audience!!
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245 posts
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Post by barelyathletic on May 22, 2019 10:58:47 GMT
I saw this last night and have to say I am surprised by the negative reaction. It's the third time I've seen this play and, though it's not classic Tennessee Williams, I think it has moments of real poetic beauty and is a fine example of a well made play. Yes, it takes a while to shift out of first gear but, once it gets going, it's a compelling drama that I found constantly gripping and engaging.
I liked the simplicity of the staging here, which pushes focus onto the actors, nearly all of whom give excellent performances. I wasn't sure about Seth Numrich at first but, rather as his character grows throughout the play, he became engaging and sympathetic and oh, so charming. His chemistry with Hattie Morahan was quite powerful and I thought she was so much better here than in A Doll's House, strong yet vulnerable, and her grief and pain at the final revelation was very moving. I really believed in them and felt that their story was tragic rather than melodramatic, as it so easily could have been.
And most of the supporting cast were top rate. Terrifying but believably human. Special mention to Ian Porter as Sheriff Talbot, Mark Meadows as Jabe Torrance and Carrie Quinlan as a chillingly icy Nurse Porter. I've always liked Jemima Rooper, who gives a typically strong performance, though I think she is slightly miscast as the fey and damaged Carol Cutrere.
Valentine Hanson's performance of Williams's stage directions I felt was a very effective touch. Tennessee Williams is, I believe, such a great writer that even these moments have a genuine descriptive beauty, adding to the sense of storytelling and the dreamlike quality of this production. And they perfectly set the scene without adding unnecessary clutter to the design.
Only the slightly odd decision to turn monologues into soliloquies jarred with me slightly. But even that would have worked if it had been followed through with a bit more confidence.
Atmospheric and constantly involving, this was a fine production of a lesser known Tennessee Williams play that took me into another time and place, and one that was warmly received by an appreciative audience. Four stars.
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1,861 posts
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 22, 2019 11:05:57 GMT
took me into another time and place I saw this last week and found it quite intense and a fair representation of the setting and glad that there was no effort to make it current. |
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4,961 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on May 23, 2019 10:17:28 GMT
I thought this was rather good in its slow burner kinda way.
The themes of the play are really strong but I can't help feeling the script could be shorter and tighter. Also the production needed to have some dirt in it. Dirt on the floor, table clothes and blood on the walls it was all too clean and generally lacking some umph.
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Post by learfan on Jun 1, 2019 22:16:53 GMT
I quite liked this. Morahan excellent. Intense atmosphere especially second half. Not quite full house.
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Post by sfsusan on Jun 12, 2019 22:41:30 GMT
I thought this was rather good in its slow burner kinda way. The themes of the play are really strong but I can't help feeling the script could be shorter and tighter. Also the production needed to have some dirt in it. Dirt on the floor, table clothes and blood on the walls it was all too clean and generally lacking some umph. I think the place was appropriately shabby and run-down, but I don't think it would have been dirty. The owner of the mercantile wasn't slovenly or lazy, so why would she be opening a new confectionary with dirty tablecloths, much less be running a general store that had blood on the walls? I think the phrase "genteel poverty" comes to mind... people who were poor, but still proud enough to keep up appearances and aspire to more. That certainly fits Lady's background as the daughter of a (briefly) successful, hard-working immigrant and her aspirations in opening the confectionary. (I agree about the script, though... the first act pretty much beat the main points into the ground.) And sitting in the front row puts you pretty much right on the edge of some loud and violent action. I had my fingers stuck in my ears for much of the second act. All in all, it kept me interested throughout, but 'interested', not 'engaged' or 'enthralled'. And I see what people mean about the glacial pace of leaving after the show. Although I did have time to look around and saw another, emergency exit. Oh, and the seats... better than the Globe, but only because of the back rests. |
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4,961 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 13, 2019 6:54:12 GMT
More dirt to represent the evil townsfolk and the environment the couple are trapped in. It is Hades after all.
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Post by sfsusan on Jun 13, 2019 13:41:16 GMT
More dirt to represent the evil townsfolk and the environment the couple are trapped in. It is Hades after all. I think they downplayed that aspect throughout this production. (Although I've never seen or read the play, so don't know how explicit that was made in other productions.) |
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1,103 posts
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Post by mallardo on Jun 14, 2019 5:35:13 GMT
The play is called Orpheus Descending for a reason - the parallels to the Orpheus/Eurydice story are there front and centre, including the setting which surely is, metaphorically, at least, Hell on earth. I don't this production downplayed that. It's as explicit as it can be.
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Post by sfsusan on Jun 15, 2019 11:00:31 GMT
I may be too literal-minded, because I can see the mythic parallels on a very abstract level, but not in the details. Val doesn't come to town to rescue his lost love, he doesn't bargain with the god of the underworld to gain her, he doesn't look back at the last second and doom her (or does he... the last scene happened so quickly that I don't remember every detail). So I can buy the set-up as being similar to the myth, but I think it diverges pretty quickly. But I could well be missing the plot (literally).
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2019 12:54:56 GMT
I may be too literal-minded, because I can see the mythic parallels on a very abstract level, but not in the details. Val doesn't come to town to rescue his lost love, he doesn't bargain with the god of the underworld to gain her, he doesn't look back at the last second and doom her (or does he... the last scene happened so quickly that I don't remember every detail). So I can buy the set-up as being similar to the myth, but I think it diverges pretty quickly. But I could well be missing the plot (literally). And that shows the flaw in this production that it does not universally communicate it's intention or message. If people can leave feeling they're "missing the plot" then there's something wrong. |
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Post by scarpia on Jul 12, 2019 20:05:34 GMT
I wasn't expecting much given this play's history, but my love of Tennessee Williams's better and more successful work meant I had to go, and I can't say I found this bad. The play takes a while to warm up, but there are some great moments, particularly in the second act, and all in all I was glad I went. I was particularly impressed by Jemima Rooper as Carol. Seth Numrich, though I liked him in Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic, seemed a bit miscast here.
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