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Tuesday September 1, 2015
1984
Without exaggeration this was one of the most incredible pieces of theatre - almost - that I have ever seen. [I did see an NT version of the Crucible once where I wanted to jump on stage and slap everyone until they saw reason].
It was.... truly "awful" in the exact sense of the word. I do not know how the staff deal with sitting through such harrowing material night after night.
I felt sorry for the cast at the end as they provided such a compelling performance it was hard to feel one could applaud at all - everyone in a sort of stunned silence.
(Though we got it together and cheered by the second curtain).
It was also a very interesting telling of the story - for both those of my age who know the book/story backwards and those who do not - with excellent use of multimedia and theatrical technique. Really I have never seen anything quite like it. [Again the NT version of Virginia Woolf's The Waves used all these techniques and more but was an experimental piece of theatre as was the text].
After a calm early evening at the Shelock Holmes pub (eating a wonderful Benedict Cumberbatch burger... wonderful food that is though I am sure Benedict himself is also wonderful) and many jokes about doing it to Julia and other hackneyed lines.... this level of experience and performance came as a total surprise for us.
Marvelous and yet dreadful as it brought the book so bitterly to life.
Thank you Big Brother.
Thank you.
Posted by Christina at 11:26 PM. Category: Art and Culture
