Constellations and the National Theatre
Jul. 20th, 2015 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitHaving been in London for the greater part of last week, I'm now planning on writing up my experiences. It won't be one long entry, but spread over the next few days, so if you're looking for something else, feel free to come back at the end of the week.
Firstly, the three plays I saw:
Wednesday evening I went to Everyman at the National Theatre. It's generally had very good reviews, but it did nothing for me. Carol Ann Duffy has rewritten the fifteenth century morality tale and brought it into the current decade. The production relies on a lot of clever visual images projected onto the back of the stage. In fact a good proportion was strongly visual. Really well done and yes, clever, but not what I look for at the theatre. It did cause me to wonder whether I was reacting negatively to 'modern' theatre.
But then on Thursday afternoon I went to the Trafalgar Studios to see Constellations. This play has been on tour and had only recently found a West End theatre for a very limited run. It was written in 2011 by Nick Payne, first performed at the Royal Court and I was thrilled to have the chance to see it. The play is a two-hander, with Louise Brearley as Marianne and Joe Armstrong as Roland. The concept of the play is there is a different universe for each small decision which is taken and therefore many of the lines are repeated with different emphasis or with a different line following. I am amazed the two actors (who are on stage for the 75 minutes non-stop) remembered the order of events. In addition whilst the audience sees the beginning of a relationship play out in various ways, there is the ending of one version shown backwards. The only indication of a change of 'scene' was the change of lights. I found it totally compelling and extremely moving. In fact, some people left the theatre part way through, I suspect because they found the subject matter too close to home. Really powerful modern theatre.
To finish my theatre visits on the Friday evening I was back at the National Theatre. This time for George Farquhar's Restoration comedy The Beaux' Stratagem. It was a glorious romp and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The cast interracted with the audience. I realised I was definitely attracted to men in knee breeches and stockings. My favourite actor was Geoffrey Streatfeild as Archer. The music was great, with the musicians coming onto stage as required. Nothing deep, nothing complicated, pure enjoyment.
Firstly, the three plays I saw:
Wednesday evening I went to Everyman at the National Theatre. It's generally had very good reviews, but it did nothing for me. Carol Ann Duffy has rewritten the fifteenth century morality tale and brought it into the current decade. The production relies on a lot of clever visual images projected onto the back of the stage. In fact a good proportion was strongly visual. Really well done and yes, clever, but not what I look for at the theatre. It did cause me to wonder whether I was reacting negatively to 'modern' theatre.
But then on Thursday afternoon I went to the Trafalgar Studios to see Constellations. This play has been on tour and had only recently found a West End theatre for a very limited run. It was written in 2011 by Nick Payne, first performed at the Royal Court and I was thrilled to have the chance to see it. The play is a two-hander, with Louise Brearley as Marianne and Joe Armstrong as Roland. The concept of the play is there is a different universe for each small decision which is taken and therefore many of the lines are repeated with different emphasis or with a different line following. I am amazed the two actors (who are on stage for the 75 minutes non-stop) remembered the order of events. In addition whilst the audience sees the beginning of a relationship play out in various ways, there is the ending of one version shown backwards. The only indication of a change of 'scene' was the change of lights. I found it totally compelling and extremely moving. In fact, some people left the theatre part way through, I suspect because they found the subject matter too close to home. Really powerful modern theatre.
To finish my theatre visits on the Friday evening I was back at the National Theatre. This time for George Farquhar's Restoration comedy The Beaux' Stratagem. It was a glorious romp and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The cast interracted with the audience. I realised I was definitely attracted to men in knee breeches and stockings. My favourite actor was Geoffrey Streatfeild as Archer. The music was great, with the musicians coming onto stage as required. Nothing deep, nothing complicated, pure enjoyment.
