What If If Only (Caryl Churchill) - Royal Court Theatre

[NeilVHughes]

A play that is nothing more than its title whilst simultaneously being infinite.

Time to choose tonight’s.

[Marwood]

All I can say after seeing this today is hmmm…it touched on some interesting ideas but the fact it only runs 20 minutes means nothing is explored in any depth: I thought Linda Bassett did a good job of channeling the spirits of Gollum and Arthur Atkinson into her part.

[peggs]

Right I saw this tonight and I like it but reading these threads make me think I must have missed quite a lot. I'm putting it down to physical and mental exhaustion of trying to find the theatre from the south bank when I have poor sense of direction and am very unfit. Anyone care to spoilers and enlighten me a bit please? I get there was no one message or theme perhaps but I've clearly missed a lot of nuances and I can't for the life of me think what the last line was before the end either.

[Dave B]

Glad that we added this to Is God Is last night. It was quite funny and at times quite sad but then ending with a little bit of optimism (and a fun, energetic - bouncy- performance from Samir Simon-Keegan)

[schuttep]

Oct 3, 2021 8:48:37 GMT Forrest said:

As for the misery threshold... I like theatre that makes me sad, because I'd rather be sad in a theatre than for real (I find it kind of therapeutic, I think), so I am OK with that. 

I like to think that my sad feelings at a theatre show are just as real as the ones I have (thankfully infrequently) felt from my own existence. That's why I'm OK with really feeling sad in the theatre - I'm sad for others, not me.

What If If Only is a classic Caryl Churchill play using her alternative realities and word repetition method. Although the play is short, it packs a punch and you don't at all feel as though it's been short.

The playtext contains another - even shorter - play in 2 parts called Air. It's a shame they couldn't have included that in the programme, too.

I'm a huge fan.

More revivals of CC plays, please. And more plays, Ms Churchill, please.

[Forrest]

schuttep , you make an excellent point on plays and sadness! 

However, I am in chaos between things I'm doing at the moment, so instead of replying properly I will just leave this here, in case you are not already familiar with it: "Air" was part of The Lockdown Plays podcast - a theatre podcast done by Tom Mothersdale, Wilf Scolding and Anoushka Warden during lockdown. It was read by Mothersdale and Lydia Wilson and it is wonderful. It's not exactly like seeing it on stage, but it's the next best thing, I guess.

The podcast was hosted on Acast, but it's not there any more. It might be worth checking out Apple Podcasts, though, it might still be available there, it used to (I'd check, but I have a MacBook bought elsewhere so I cannot access the GB podcasts store).

[londonpostie]

This finishes tomorrow but managed to catch it on the way back from Lidl (read: massive detour).

Unless barking up the wrong tree, I was onto Churchill early on this occasion. In fact it was a shame in so much I was gearing up for the next level when things went dark and it was time to file out.

Anyway ...

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
I presume the Woman/Apple of his eye was wearing a green dress at every performance?

[Forrest]

I can confirm she did on the night I was there, londonpostie . Now I'm curious to know why you are asking!

And yes, it is short, but sorry to hear it was too short for you. I thought it was really well rounded, although perhaps more captivating as a masterclass in writing and attention to detail than surprising in terms of where it went.

As a bit of an off topic side note, I enjoyed Bassett's performance in "What if..." a tiny bit more than Heffernan's, only to have him completely sweep me off my feet in Maryland a week later. It was a rehearsed script reading but he'd done it before that same week, and he was clearly fully in character: and he was just superb!

[londonpostie]

@forrest , I've started writing notes on new works again. I find it very difficult to aviod pretention - I'm just a crap amateur but this is what I noted this morning >>

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
I adored the visceral emotional intensity and honesty of this 1 Act, 16-minute reflection on grief and moving forward. It comes as we stagger through the societal carnage of, what will shortly become, 2-years of living and dying with Covid.

We start with a monologue delivered from the kitchen table as a man nibbles at his meal. He is aghast at the idea of someone spending ten years painting a perfect picture of an apple, and then spending the next seven trying to paint the exact opposite of an apple. Imagines that, he cries.

He is then presented with a vision, not in the biblical sense and distinct from ghost in the popular sense. It’s something like a person, perhaps sharing a vague – very vague – likeness with his partner.

What then emerges is perhaps for individual interpretation. For me, dear reader, it seemed He had spent so long grieving that his deceased partner, in this moment, develops form, some dimension. Is this a - frankly overdue - coping mechanism; after seven years was he conversing with his own subconscious through the powerful memory of his partner ..

There will come an answer, let it be, let it be.

The vision – wearing an apple-coloured dress - presents the idea of Her always being with Him – in his present, in memory – but him also choosing a future, from the thousands he might, with someone else. And if He so chooses, because he is still young, that future might include becoming father to a son.

In the opening monologue, it seems we don’t learn what happens after the ten years of painting and seven years of erasure. But we probably do; the Vision’s arrival is perhaps the start of Act 3 of that monologue.

Perhaps, also, in order to move forward as a society we must first choose to move forward individually, bearing our pain, choosing life.

[peggs]

I had not made that connect londonpostie so now I'm going oooohhh.

Picked a copy up of the script today at the national, obviously didn't it since I failed to do so for a third of the price last week, and reminded myself how it ends. When I think when i've sat through things for hours that struggled to say anything it's amazing what this packs in. What a talent.

[cavocado]

I've ordered a copy of the playscript after reading this thread, especially londonpostie's thoughts. I loved this play, but I think there was a lot that didn't register with me, so it's been really interesting reading different people's interpretations. I really wish they were streaming it and I could watch again.

[londonpostie]

have to say I'm somewhat tempted to buy the playtext. I remember his first, spooken-out-loud monologue (apples), but the later one, where he was probably arguing with himself through Her, I don't recall well.

Also, perhaps it doesn't matter, but if anyone has a view on whether she died or just left him (i.e. the relationship died) then that would be interesting .. fwiw, I think we are led in one direction, however ...

[schuttep]

I always buy the playtext at the Royal Court because they're so cheap. Then if I want to treat it as an ephemeral programme, I can throw it away (relax, fellow serious theatre-goers, I never have yet!)

This one was £3. Actually, if you're a RC member and bought the playtext at the Samual French bookstall, you got it for £2.70, as I did.. A 10% reduction on all purchases at the SF bookstall with RC membership: bargain!

[cavocado]

Nov 12, 2021 13:46:28 GMT schuttep said:

I always buy the playtext at the Royal Court because they're so cheap. Then if I want to treat it as an ephemeral programme, I can throw it away (relax, fellow serious theatre-goers, I never have yet!)

This one was £3. Actually, if you're a RC member and bought the playtext at the Samual French bookstall, you got it for £2.70, as I did.. A 10% reduction on all purchases at the SF bookstall with RC membership: bargain!

Thanks for this. I'm a member but I'd never noticed there was a discount in the bookstall. Just checked the website and there's also a discount in the bar. How do they know? Do they check you against their database when you pay?

[schuttep]

You show your membeship card (available from the box office).