"Bull" by Mike Bartlett
Jan. 27th, 2015 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitLast Saturday afternoon I went to see "Bull", a play by Mike Bartlett at the Young Vic. I first saw it two years ago, when it was premiered at the Crucible in Sheffield, and as soon as I saw it was being staged again I was keen to go. The play was reprised with three of the four original actors, and since one of the said actors was Sam Troughton you can probably guess why I was going.
It's an interesting play. It's set in what is essentially a boxing ring - ropes round the stage - and there's a water cooler in one corner. There's a standing area round the stage, so that the audience can lean on the ropes, or have a seat outside that area. It's a small set and becomes almost claustrophobic.
The play begins with a number of remarks that cause the audience to laugh, but, as the play progresses and it becomes apparent what is happening, they grow silent. Having seen it before it was fascinating to watch the reactions and the growing horror that what was apparently a bit of good-natured banter is in fact a concerted attack by two people on the third.
I had chosen to stand (although my ticket said 'unreserved seating' so I was sent back to the box office to ask them to change it - they crossed out 'seating' and wrote 'standing') and knew exactly where I wanted to stand, which was right next to the water cooler, to be as close to one of the most dramatic moments as possible. At one point two of the characters were having a conversation less than a foot away and there was the temptation to look away and let them have this moment in private - ridiculous, since they were obviously acting - but it really felt that intimate.
Afterwards, I was discussing the play with the guy I was standing next to, and he was asking why I'd come to see it again, so I said I was a Sam Troughton groupie. To which he asked me if I'd seen him in "King Lear", said that ST was an excellent actor and we discussed other plays we'd seen him in. Sheer bliss.
It's an interesting play. It's set in what is essentially a boxing ring - ropes round the stage - and there's a water cooler in one corner. There's a standing area round the stage, so that the audience can lean on the ropes, or have a seat outside that area. It's a small set and becomes almost claustrophobic.
The play begins with a number of remarks that cause the audience to laugh, but, as the play progresses and it becomes apparent what is happening, they grow silent. Having seen it before it was fascinating to watch the reactions and the growing horror that what was apparently a bit of good-natured banter is in fact a concerted attack by two people on the third.
I had chosen to stand (although my ticket said 'unreserved seating' so I was sent back to the box office to ask them to change it - they crossed out 'seating' and wrote 'standing') and knew exactly where I wanted to stand, which was right next to the water cooler, to be as close to one of the most dramatic moments as possible. At one point two of the characters were having a conversation less than a foot away and there was the temptation to look away and let them have this moment in private - ridiculous, since they were obviously acting - but it really felt that intimate.
Afterwards, I was discussing the play with the guy I was standing next to, and he was asking why I'd come to see it again, so I said I was a Sam Troughton groupie. To which he asked me if I'd seen him in "King Lear", said that ST was an excellent actor and we discussed other plays we'd seen him in. Sheer bliss.
