I thought this production had many strong aspects. Fantastic set design and stunning visuals combined with excellent performances from a great cast!
Unlike some of the audience on Press Night I was interested and involved throughout the entirety of this play and I believe Elen Bowman deserves huge credit for getting what she did from the text. The writing itself is really very poor and I thought completely detracted from the hard work put into this production. (I don't think Osborne's age and naivety should be used as an excuse or justification for this). The play itself seems to descend into melodromatic farce at points, causing waves of laughter from the audience at the most innapropriate moments of drama and tension. This frustrated and alienated me and some of the audience's connection with the characters and the plight of their situation. Like others have suggested there were audability issues as well especially in the Circle making it difficult to hear the subtle sections of the piece.
This production I thought was certainly interesting and Elen Bowman and the cast do a fantastic job with what they had to work with. I would question the choice of this museum piece though (that I think will still go down well with the old school national press) and believe it's a missed opportunity for great things this time around...
Any other opinions of the show? Were any of these issues present on other nights?
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