You know it's a desperate day when your own father nags you about not blogging. So for you, my daddy...
He and I went to the theatre at the weekend as it happens (clearly why he chastises me as he wishes to see my review of the event). I've never been to the Royal National Theatre and a fine venue it is too. Air-conditioned which makes a nice change from the Trav. Great accoustics. Great sight lines. Even for us sat up in the cheap seats and with a whole giant three storey house filling the stage.
We watched August:Osage County. I shall be interested to see what DG makes of it as he caught the matinee before legging it across town to see Hamlet. Two epics in a day. I do not envy him (aside from the David Tennant thing). Anyway, I still can't quite make up my mind about whether I liked it or not. It was certainly tremendously well acted. The cast of thirteen were a fine ensemble and there were some really impressively done group scenes - them all sitting down to dinner for example - which were just beautifully choreographed.
The plot was suitably dark. Father goes missing. Oh oops he's actually killed himself. Mother is high as a kite on a glorious mix of medication so hardly cares but oh she does care really. Older sister struggles to hold it together as her own marriage collapses because her husband has run off with one of his students. Middle sister is the despair of the family as she can't get a man and maybe even gasp might be a lesbian but oh, it's all alright because she's only shagging her (male) cousin who actually turns out to be her brother. Little sister is dating and in fact hopelessly head over heels with a slimy fellow who maybe has a bit of thing for very young girls but hey, she's desperate so she won't let that deter her. Then there's the sheriff with the unfulfilled yearning for the older sister who's too busy to realise. The traumatised au pair kind of girl who can't get attached to anybody because her parents died and so lives out this hopeless surely joyless existence being bullied by this family from hell. And the daughter of the oldest sister who clearly has her own issues because there she goes smoking weed again with her aunt's lascivious boyfriend.
A lot for three hours, I would suggest. Which father liked and I was a bit more dubious about. I admire the scale of her (in fact, writer is a Tracy but a he so I take it back, I mean his) ambition.
I wonder if it means more if it's some kind of satire on the political state in America towards the end of the 2007 as they staggered around slightly rudderless as they wound to the end of the shambling Bush administration.
It was a great character piece and would be a delightful and meaty challenge for the bunch of actors. Did it suffer from too much devising and too much (heavily influenced here by Max Stafford-Clark on the joys of devising with a bunch of ego-centric actors) kow-towing to actors? But then if you check out YouTube, they seem like a very self-effacing bunch.
So, as I found after Zinnie Harris' Fall in the festival, I'm not really sure what I think. DG??
He and I went to the theatre at the weekend as it happens (clearly why he chastises me as he wishes to see my review of the event). I've never been to the Royal National Theatre and a fine venue it is too. Air-conditioned which makes a nice change from the Trav. Great accoustics. Great sight lines. Even for us sat up in the cheap seats and with a whole giant three storey house filling the stage.
We watched August:Osage County. I shall be interested to see what DG makes of it as he caught the matinee before legging it across town to see Hamlet. Two epics in a day. I do not envy him (aside from the David Tennant thing). Anyway, I still can't quite make up my mind about whether I liked it or not. It was certainly tremendously well acted. The cast of thirteen were a fine ensemble and there were some really impressively done group scenes - them all sitting down to dinner for example - which were just beautifully choreographed.
The plot was suitably dark. Father goes missing. Oh oops he's actually killed himself. Mother is high as a kite on a glorious mix of medication so hardly cares but oh she does care really. Older sister struggles to hold it together as her own marriage collapses because her husband has run off with one of his students. Middle sister is the despair of the family as she can't get a man and maybe even gasp might be a lesbian but oh, it's all alright because she's only shagging her (male) cousin who actually turns out to be her brother. Little sister is dating and in fact hopelessly head over heels with a slimy fellow who maybe has a bit of thing for very young girls but hey, she's desperate so she won't let that deter her. Then there's the sheriff with the unfulfilled yearning for the older sister who's too busy to realise. The traumatised au pair kind of girl who can't get attached to anybody because her parents died and so lives out this hopeless surely joyless existence being bullied by this family from hell. And the daughter of the oldest sister who clearly has her own issues because there she goes smoking weed again with her aunt's lascivious boyfriend.
A lot for three hours, I would suggest. Which father liked and I was a bit more dubious about. I admire the scale of her (in fact, writer is a Tracy but a he so I take it back, I mean his) ambition.
I wonder if it means more if it's some kind of satire on the political state in America towards the end of the 2007 as they staggered around slightly rudderless as they wound to the end of the shambling Bush administration.
It was a great character piece and would be a delightful and meaty challenge for the bunch of actors. Did it suffer from too much devising and too much (heavily influenced here by Max Stafford-Clark on the joys of devising with a bunch of ego-centric actors) kow-towing to actors? But then if you check out YouTube, they seem like a very self-effacing bunch.
So, as I found after Zinnie Harris' Fall in the festival, I'm not really sure what I think. DG??
posted by Claire at 6:33 pm
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