After the reviews came out for this rather surreal piece from Rory Mullarkey, I was full of dread for to see this piece, not least due to the alert of full- frontal male nudity. Despite this, I left feeling pleasantly surprised. Of course there are serious flaws. The budget seems to have been blown on Anna Chancellor and the huge quantities of food used throughout, the set could be done much better, with scene changes indicated by an LED screen, and the script does require a space which can both be intimate and provide huge spectacle which this theatre cannot pull off well. As well as this, the numerous deaths in the play could have been handle in a better fashion. I was not expecting Titus Andronicus scale gore but just to have a voice over giving stage directions. But on the other hand, this fantasist piece tackles a tricky subject in a rib- tickling manner with a very heartfelt speech given by Chancellor to some civil war reenactors. Pearce Quigley and Lucy Robinson are fantastic as the ensemble with special note to Quigley's taxi driver which gives perhaps the most poignant moment of the play. He is never quite as funny as his Bottom in Midsummers Night Dream last year at the Globe but to be honest, it would have been hard to top that. The two leads also are great, as is expected. Whilst this production will never set the world alight, there is plenty in it to cherish.
No comments:
Post a Comment