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Post by Steve on Jul 6, 2023 23:34:51 GMT
Saw this tonight, and initially was flummoxed, unable to gauge what genre of play I was watching.
I fell in LOVE with the piece, though - with the humour of it, the mysteriousness of it, the darkness of it, the insight of it, the original vision of it - but the bold unwillingness to pander to audience expectations is bound to make for a marmite response, with a mix of raves and WTF reactions likely.
Some spoilers follow. . .
Imagine a writer's room, in which Stephen King, Caryl Churchill and Luis Bunuel are the writers, but the show runner they answer to is Stefan Golaszewski. That's what Michael Wynne's thoroughly original play feels like lol:-
King is adamant that the play has to be about recognisable everyday life, but that some unimaginable horror has to creep through the cracks;
Yes, says Churchill, and the horror should be some kind of apocalypse, maybe stemming from climate change or the atomisation of society, where our characters are 4 authentic and ordinary women, relating to their "terrible rage terrible rage terrible rage," like in "Escaped Alone," her own Royal Court play;
Yes, says Bunuel, but to make it interesting, our characters should feel frustratingly, absurdly, inexplicably and mundanely, physically trapped by their fears of this apocalypse, like in Bunuel's own films, "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" or "The Exterminating Angel," where characters are frozen in place and unable to escape, (the latter movie being effectively adapted into a creepy and brilliant opera recently at the Royal Opera House);
Yes, says their boss, Stefan Golaszewski, but NO: actually, we CAN do all that, but the whole thing has to feel like his sitcom, "Mum," in which the inability, as well as the ability, of a family to relate, is milked for laughs in scenes that play out over extensive periods of time.
For me, Michael Wynne's winning bizarre confection is very funny, but too strange and disturbing to be the funniest play you've seen; it's freaky scary at times, but never as scary as plays that aren't so focused on laughs; it's dramatic, but never so dramatic as plays that set characters up more intentionally oppositionally. Thus, emotional responses play second fiddle to originality and meaning, and as audiences are emotional first and foremost, some will just walk out at the interval, as indeed, some did tonight.
Vicky Featherstone, always an actor's director, gets sheer brilliance out of the cast. Jodie McNee, typically focused and intense, is delightfully scatty and humorously lighter than I've ever seen her. Emma Harrison, in her professional debut, is funny, mysterious and brilliantly jarringly unpredictable. Michelle Butterly depicts a frustrated mother, whose attempt to live a normal life, while having a teen sprog on the edge, rings authentic in the extreme (think Kate Winslet in that harrowing drama she did with her daughter).
And the absolutely fabulous Sue Jenkins, as the family matriarch, is as wonderful and as loveable as Leslie Manville's "Mum," in her relentless attempt to have her own life independent of her demanding family, while expressing all the love and glue that bonds them all together.
4 and a half stars from me, but expect much lower ratings and walkouts from audience members who want something more emotively genre-based.
PS: This ran for 2 hours and ten minutes tonight, although a late start and a padded interval resulted in a 9:45pm finish.
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Post by drmaplewood on Jul 7, 2023 7:25:24 GMT
I was there last night and was really taken by this, as you say its quite perplexing at first but I was fully under its spell by the end and its still playing on my mind now.
I didn't know Sue Jenkins was in it (I am very bad at reading cast lists beforehand!) and as a Brookside fan was thrilled, she is wonderful.
Best thing I've seen at the Court for a while though I agree, this will divide people.
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Post by alessia on Jul 7, 2023 9:32:29 GMT
I'm going in august, intrigued now!
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Post by david on Jul 7, 2023 12:22:24 GMT
Booked for the run at the Liverpool Everyman in September prior to your post Steve . After reading it, your thoughts have certainly got me intrigued now with this play. It sounds an interesting one to watch. |
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Post by foxa on Jul 8, 2023 22:28:55 GMT
Ah Steve I love the play you describe but I'm afraid I'm in the WTF group. I love scary plays and funny plays and insightful ones too but this was so tepid that I couldn't really describe it as any of those things. There was some good dialogue (Mr Foxa appreciated the absolute authenticity of the fish and chips scene), liked the performances (particularly Sue Jenkins who really was wonderful) and the set design was effective. But there didn't seem to be any dramatic motor powering it along and I have no idea what it was trying to say. Possibly some mishmash about technology/climate changes/families/women on their own? But instead of journeying down new paths on any of those themes, the play just treated them as familiar cul de sacs. (Yes, people look at their mobiles a lot; yes people who preach about climate change can be hypocrits; certainly mothers and daughters don't always communicate well.) Most puzzling. Star-wise - possible 2-1/2 |
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Post by jr on Jul 12, 2023 7:17:54 GMT
I liked the play but felt it needed a bit more of depth/subtext. I couldn't find as many layers as other members here. At the beginning I thought it would take a weird turn, it reminded me of Pinter or Albee's A delicate balance, but you keep waiting and nothing changes.
The four actors are really good and they have good chemistry even being on previews. I found the beginning a bit slow but overall the pace is good and you don't get bored. Nice set too. I thought they had a mirror on the floor but it was water: I knew when I put my hand on it and got wet. It is interesting to have a look if you are on stalls left side: you look into it and it gives you a deep feeling of looking into an abyss.
So, an interesting play but don't expect much, let yourself go and enjoy the acting.
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Jul 12, 2023 8:27:15 GMT
I'm going to see this next week, with the Q&A after the show. I really want to read the posts above but have deliverately avoided any spoilers so far.
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Post by nash16 on Jul 12, 2023 9:49:05 GMT
There last night and what a waste of the Royal Court downstairs. What is going on at this venue recently? We left imagining that what had been promised in the commissioning of it did not turn out in the end product, because as others have said, it’s a lot of talking and mobile phones with very little substance.
The acting is great, from everyone. But what could have been elevated from a regular Liverpool set sitcom has been let down by the writer and director. You’ve got 4 great women onstage; give them something better.
Watching it we thought it was going build to be a subversive take on climate change, and the effect on the young whilst the older generation carry on with their lives. But...
By the interval there was nothing dramatic to make us bother waiting for the second half, which I always find criminal. We did stay and in the final scenes it became clear this wasn’t actually going anywhere. Anywhere it had gone was tied up within a couple of lines. And at the end it looked like it was trying to start the whole process again.
As I say, the actors are great, but the material is weak, despite the laugh lines.
With the play upstairs not faring much better either, it’s definitely an uninspired time at this venue.
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Post by foxa on Jul 15, 2023 10:09:44 GMT
A split on the reviews for this. Probably weighted more in the 2 stars (The Stage, the Standard, the Arts Desk) and 3 stars (Time Out, Telegraph, Times, Guardian) favour, but a couple more enthusiastic ones, notably 4 stars from inews and Broadway World who both found it beguiling.
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Post by londonpostie on Jul 19, 2023 9:12:59 GMT
I went last night and stayed around for the Q&A. Last here 4-5 weeks ago for Alistair McDowall’s all of it and this piece also presents challenges, as you’d hope for at the Royal Court. The short answer to what I think of RC productions – when it’s on form – is ‘were you entertained by the challenge’ because the play, the ideas, will be testing me like a cryptic crossword. This piece reminded me of back in the day and the genre ‘kitchen sink drama’. In those genre terms, the 3-generation, matriarchy, working-class, single-room drama comes alive and succeeds: domestic mundanity (sic) into which an emotional event is dropped, dividing unity, allowing insight. www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpdx7hv/revision/3So if that’s the landscape, what twists and ideas does Michael Wynne bring to make this fresh .. Well, the central character is absent from Act 2 and more besides, so that requires some shaping. We look at the different kinds of challenges facing families with teenagers in the 3rd decade of the century (inc. low income, lone parenting). Subtlety; shared takeaways without the tv (in favour of .. you-know-what). The refuge of the matriarchs spaces .. the overwhelming reliance on you-know-for information, interaction and personal hope, but also collective catastrophe .. It’s so fresh as a domestic drama there isn’t even gender-based physical violence. I was perplexed for a while on the tube home but absolutely found the challenge entertaining and rewarding. |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 22, 2023 18:35:15 GMT
Reading the comments here and the professional reviews I thought this sounded just my sort of play and having seen today's matinee, I'm happy to say that it was. I agree that nothing much happens, but I really enjoy seeing credible characters interact and simply talk (or not) to each other as members of a real family would, and that's exactly what you get here. It also made a refreshing change to hear accents which to me are regional. It will be interesting to see how it fares when the production moves to Liverpool.
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Post by dlevi on Jul 22, 2023 21:13:06 GMT
I was at the matinee as well and found the play to be a throwback to the type of plays the Court did in the 80's and 90's - which is a good thing. I think the play raised a lot more questions than it answered and found the second act to be very frustrating because the characters turned on a dime and some of the things they did made no sense ( to me ). But it was well acted and the sound design is, in its own quiet way, spectacular. Glad I saw it but not sure I'd recommend it to anyone but the most ardent theatregoer.
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Post by luvvie23 on Jul 29, 2023 22:29:07 GMT
Absolutely loved this play! I think Vicky Featherstone is taking the Court back to its roots with this play. And after seeing some of the huge misfires that have been there in recent times, I breathed a sigh of relief. The last play I saw at the court was Black superhero. Which by their own admission, was a disaster.
Having scouse heritage, I found myself in fits of laughter at the humour. But the audience were hooked. Fantastic cast. But there is something so genuinely magical about Sue Jenkins (Iconic Brookside actress, and Richard Fleeshman’s mum) who acts with such a raw working class vigour, it’s like the court have street cast this role.
Sue Jenkins is massively underrated. And I hope she gets another iconic television role that launches her to Anne Reid status. Please go and see it.
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Post by tmesis on Aug 13, 2023 18:19:37 GMT
I very much enjoyed this at the Saturday matinee. It’s been criticised by some because ‘nothing much happens’ but I found all four women characters so well drawn by Wynne and immaculately acted by the talented cast that I was enthralled throughout. The tone of the play somewhat reminded me of Annie Baker transported to Birkenhead but it’s much funnier than her work with some one liners worthy of Alan Bennett or Victoria Wood. Also in its favour is it’s quite short, coming in at 1hr 55 mins with interval - so many plays I go too are way too long.
Pity the stalls were only half full - it deserves better.
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Post by david on Sept 6, 2023 23:09:56 GMT
First night at the Liverpool Everyman of the play and I along with the audience I was sat with had a brilliant time watching it this evening. At 2hrs long, this zips along very nicely under the direction of Vicky Featherstone and kept everyone engaged and laughing the entire time.
Wynne has written a good family drama with the 4 characters, situations and interactions with each other that felt authentic such as the wonderful chippy tea scene at the beginning of the play. The scouse humour really shone through in this play and that was helped by having cast members from the area. Sue Jenkins as Doreen, the family matriarch for me was worth the ticket money alone. She gets some brilliant lines that could of been taken straight from an Alan Bennett play or from Victoria Wood as has already been noted. Though all four ladies were a great watch and had really great on stage chemistry.
I would agree with those folk who have already seen this play that it both doesn't really go anywhere and it could of done with a bit more depth as the issues it touches on aren't fully explored and I did end up having a few more questions than answers by the end of the play. I am not entirely sure what (if any) message(s) Michael Wynne was trying to convey here.
A lovely set from Peter McKintosh and a haunting sound design from Nick Powell
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Post by undeuxtrois on Sept 12, 2023 20:54:44 GMT
Wow what a brilliant play! All four ladies were incredible and brought their own life to the show. The ending filled me with dread. 5/5 from me it was thought-provoking, dramatic, intense, funny you name it. Might try and catch it again before it ends in Liverpool.
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