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This is where you stick random tidbits of information about yourself.
Age 23, living in sin in Twickenham with Cheesy
Likes
Movies
Books
Writing
Theatre
Hugs
Kittens
Chess
Scrabble (mostly beating Cheesy's butt)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Dislikes
Vegetables
Arguments
Cleaning
Trashy TV
Pretensions
Public Transport
Pets
Rabbits-Bambi, Fern, Sooty, Pippa-all deceased
Dog-Sammy-deceased :(
Fish-CatFlap-recently (and finally!) deceased
Cat-Tiggy-still scratching
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Technically Rachel
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Friday, June 16, 2006
So, yes I'm rubbish. I shall do a proper update soon, but in the meantime here's my review from "On The Third Day", which one that national competition to put a new play straight on the West End. So, obviously I was interested to see what it cropped up. The pitch for this play on the program was a girl bringing back a date from the pub who claims to be Jesus, and the themes apparently were to focus on this and schizophrenia.
My overall opinion: "Meh"
The play is not awful or a train wreck, but neither is it brilliant or inspiring.
We start with those lovely things called childhood flashbacks - which frankly I loathed. Not to do disservice to the children performing - they were brilliant - but the flashbacks were arty farty and at one point practically lifted dialogue from "Whistle Down The Wind" (the film, not that ass crappy musical).
The set was a surpise to me - basically giant screens with images set most the scenes. Whilst probably hugely expensive, it's not my taste for sets - I like beautifully detailed built sets, but that's just my taste.
The whole play had a "fringe" feel to it - like I should have been watching it in some off West End theatre - to be honest I think it would carry off better there. Ultimately it felt like typical "new writing" - the stuff the West End winces from.
To give the writer credit (and God knows she probably deserves it as this process can't have been easy), there are some beautifully crafted scenes. Her naturalistic, conversational dialogue is great and builds each scene well, using humour and warmth to attach us to the characters. Unfortunately every scene is ruined by a sudden descent into melodrama. Cause oh Lord there's a lot of drama in this. And when the melodrama kicks in, everything that's good about the play kinda goes to shit. I can't help but wonder if the writer hadn't taken things so seriously whether we would have a better play.
The "Jesus" character is perfect - he's a joy to watch and listen to. Only problem is - the play isn't about him. It's not about him or schizophrenia - it's about incest. Lots and lots of incest. "Jesus" is kind of irrelevant in some ways - he's the thing that brings the characters back together, but that's kind of it. Not that this makes him a bad character - but since he's the pitch the audience will probably be drawn in on, it's a bit disappointing.
In addition to Jesus and incest, we also get that old lark self harm and suicide. Joy. The self harm scenes were irritatingly predictable - one minute the character is in a screaming rage tearing things up and holding a pair of scissors. Guess what she's doing minutes later when she's in the whimpering aftermath of hysterics? The scene attempts to be brutal with its audience as blood sachets pop all over the place, and it's certainly painful to watch. But rather than being emotionally affected I just felt irritated.
Despite the randomly intense emotions, a lot of humour has been injected in this play, and most of the time it's handled just right - diffusing tension nicely. Although some of the Jesus references are way too heavy handed and you're rolling your eyes while laughing, but many were subtle enough to coax genuine laughter. The Elvis character in the final scene really misses the mark though. Initially he's very effective and funny but he is used inappropriately at times. What should have been an intense reunion scene was completely overshadowed by this device rather than intensified by it. It just didn't fit and seemed an attempt to stretch too much towards the surreal.
I know a lot of this sounds really negative, but I really think there were some brilliant parts in this play. Perhaps that's what makes it so frustrating - that it was nearly something brilliant.
I should say as well that the actors and the production value were flawless - some of the character work was brilliant - particularly from Claire and "Jesus" - which has to suggest that at least the cast saw something in the play.
The background to the characters has also clearly been well thought out, though a little sledge hammered into place at time. The prose about the solar system and caving is lovely, but frequently goes on a bit and feels irrelevant. And the relationship dynamics work really well in the build up to the melodrama. I wish the writer had taken this somewhere not so obviously dark and tragic - something subtler with a stronger sense of humour would have made something far more worth seeing I think.
I think in Episode 1 of the TV program, Sonia asked the Kate if we find out whether the guy is Jesus by the end of the play. Kate said no and Sonia was happy with this. This isn't the case anymore. Events before the final scene make it blatantly obvious who he is. I won't say who, as I wouldn't want to spoil it for those who will watch and enjoy it (yes, I do think there will be people who will). I wish she'd decided to keep that mystery.
The audience seemed to enjoy it anyway - it certainly got a lengthy round of applause. There were certainly some raised eyebrows and confused questions on the way out from people around me, but I couldn't say for sure whether the play was loved or loathed.
Me - I'm somewhere in the middle with "Meh".
12:35 pm
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