1,199 posts
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Post by Steve on Dec 10, 2022 19:15:01 GMT
A mildly comedic version of "A Little Life," in which everything going wrong for the long-suffering protagonist is somewhat ameliorated by humour. I liked this least of the three Karam plays I've seen, but it's still special. Some spoilers follow. . . My best Karam experience was Patsy Ferran in "Speech and Debate," at Trafalgar 2, performing bits of her comedy musical based on Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." As a failing actor, who couldn't get cast, and then created the most hilariously misjudged piece to perform with shameless gusto, Patsy Ferran in that show was belly laughs for me! So, for me, Karam is like Woody Allen: I prefer his earlier, less earnest, funnier material lol. That said, the Broadway Cast of "The Humans" were terrific when they transferred to Hampstead, and I'll freely concede that in dramatising how ordinary life can be a horror show, Karam worked me over more deeply in that piece, albeit there were less laughs. This show is more like "The Humans" than "Speech and Debate," in that Karam's ever-present humour takes a bit of a back seat to a muted depiction of one mild-mannered man's suffering by degrees (Irfan Shamji's likeable easy-going Joseph's knee is injured, his career is lost, his father has died, his brother is dependent, his potential boyfriend is a user, etc etc), but nonetheless, the show rings true, and it does embrace how fragile we are (where's Sting when you need him to labour the point?) and the endless whiny self-absorbed suffering of Juliet Cowan's Gloria, the lead character's needy new boss, is particularly funny. Appealing turns, also, by Jack Holden (fresh off his own brilliant play in the West End) as a potential love interest, Raad Rawi as a grumpy yet endearing uncle, Eric Sirakian as a needling yet vulnerable brother and Raphael Akuwudike as the easy going man who may have killed the protagonist's father, all bring strong engagement with the plot development. On the one hand, I wished that this muted piece was as outre and funny as "Speech and Debate," but on the other, I appreciated it's meaningful engagement with life as endless suffering, sometimes mild, sometimes excruciating, always to be embraced with gallows humour. 3 and a half stars from me.  |
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Post by pledge on Dec 11, 2022 10:24:43 GMT
Agree. I spent about an hour waiting for some kind of major dramatic development to kick in before realising that it wasn't going to happen and that this was going to be an altogether more discursive and loose-limbed sequence of scenes from a life. Very good performances all round (especially from the lead) and some perceptive and amusing moments, but the play just didn't quite feel big enough to fill the space/time. Missed "The Humans" alas, so don't have anything to compare it with. Still, given that the writing would seem to be on the wall for Hampstead as a new writing theatre perhaps we should be grateful for what they can still produce...
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1,846 posts
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Post by NeilVHughes on Dec 11, 2022 13:12:54 GMT
I found this perplexing and just couldn’t get into it, outside of Joseph the other character’s were some of the most dislikable people I have met on stage. It was a sort of self help / ladder through life’s setbacks with reference to their grandfathers book but lacked focus and became just a collection of scenes held together by access to the US Healthcare system. Was it a play on self help or a political play on access to healthcare in the US, came away as I said perplexed. Was pleased when it was over and if there was an interval I would have contemplated leaving and not sure of the Christmas angle except that it is being staged in December, if in July we may have had a palm tree. A brave play to stage over Christmas and will be interesting to see how it performs as only in preview it was fairly empty last night, looking forward to the reviews as hopefully they will align with Steve and Hampstead are able to avoid the Turkey that I found it to be and I was just being a Grinch. |
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Post by cavocado on Dec 11, 2022 16:17:46 GMT
What's the running time for this? I can't see it on the theatre website.
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Post by Fleance on Dec 11, 2022 16:32:26 GMT
About 1 hour 45 minutes, no interval, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Great evening at the Hampstead.
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Post by cavocado on Dec 11, 2022 17:34:53 GMT
Thanks Fleance. I like the sound of it despite the mixed reviews here, so will try and fit it in. |
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885 posts
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Post by lonlad on Dec 11, 2022 17:49:52 GMT
The New York production of it a decade or more ago (2011, I see now) was absolutely superb; let's hope this one follows suit! The cast there included Tony winners Joanna Gleason and Santino Fontana, so pretty stellar .....
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Post by Forrest on Dec 12, 2022 15:05:28 GMT
Much like NeilVHughes, I couldn't really get into this - it seemed more like a collection of comedic scenes than a play that has something to say, and I just didn't love it (even if I really did want to). I was actually surprised to read about all the accolades that the text received around the time that it was first performed after I'd seen it. It was entertaining, but not much more. Also... After "The Arrival" at the Bush I was convinced that Irfan Shamji would become one of my favourite stage actors, but his performance in this, as well as in the Young Vic's recent "Chasing Hares", somehow left me cold, which is a bit of a disappointment. Am I being too strict? Perhaps. But I really think he can do better. (Jack Holden on the other hand did an amazing job, despite his character not really having much content.) |
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Post by lonlad on Dec 13, 2022 0:01:54 GMT
Well, having sung this play's praises in NY, I can only report that the London version doesn't land at all and is spectacularly miscast in at least three of the central roles. Oh well: a shame, too, since the play is SO much better (moving/funny/etc) than this production lets on. Jack Holden is excellent. The rest is silence .....
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Post by chameleon on Dec 13, 2022 4:52:13 GMT
Well, having sung this play's praises in NY, I can only report that the London version doesn't land at all and is spectacularly miscast in at least three of the central roles. Oh well: a shame, too, since the play is SO much better (moving/funny/etc) than this production lets on. Jack Holden is excellent. The rest is silence .....
How was the NY production different? My impression, watching the version in Hampstead, was that the play was intended to be much brighter, funnier, & more boldly comic than this production (which presented the play in a very british style of sensitive, subdued realism) allowed it to be.
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1,199 posts
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Post by Steve on Dec 13, 2022 12:05:28 GMT
Well, having sung this play's praises in NY, I can only report that the London version doesn't land at all and is spectacularly miscast in at least three of the central roles. Oh well: a shame, too, since the play is SO much better (moving/funny/etc) than this production lets on. Jack Holden is excellent. The rest is silence .....
How was the NY production different? My impression, watching the version in Hampstead, was that the play was intended to be much brighter, funnier, & more boldly comic than this production (which presented the play in a very british style of sensitive, subdued realism) allowed it to be.
Yes. While I haven't seen the US production, it's clear this didn't need to focus on realistic muted misery, and could just as easily be presented with an eye-popping, sighing, increasingly frenzied Andrew-Scott-style OTT comedic performance in the lead role. That kind of show would have been much funnier, without foregoing the meaning of it all, and would have cracked the 4 star barrier for me. |
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885 posts
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Post by lonlad on Dec 13, 2022 13:34:19 GMT
The NY production was much better cast pretty much down the line and infinitely better designed - this one is visually so drab and dreary that it wrongfoots you from the start and the configuration of the desks in the first scene seems off, just for starters. It also felt more coherent, much more moving, and less piecemeal: this version diminishes the writing, at least for me. Interesting to see 2 stars or 4 stars from the crits. I would give it 3.
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3,475 posts
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Post by showgirl on Dec 13, 2022 15:15:21 GMT
Meanwhile Libby Purves (Theatrecat) has rated this 5 stars!
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1,338 posts
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Post by Dave B on Dec 13, 2022 15:36:24 GMT
Meanwhile Libby Purves (Theatrecat) has rated this 5 stars! The variety in the review ratings has caught my eye alongside Steve's thoughtful (as ever) review. Given this runs till 14 January, I've put it on my list to try and get along to. |
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Post by orchidman on Dec 17, 2022 2:56:30 GMT
Very average play, beginning to feel dated. One of those pieces that gets called a dramedy because it's neither dramatic or funny enough. Ending is very weak.
Strange choice to revive this, The Humans was successful (and much better) but not so successful as to make Karam into a box office draw in the UK.
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Post by kate8 on Dec 17, 2022 8:28:08 GMT
chameleon: ‘My impression, watching the version in Hampstead, was that the play was intended to be much brighter, funnier, & more boldly comic than this production (which presented the play in a very british style of sensitive, subdued realism) allowed it to be.’ I think this hits the nail on the head. I had an enjoyable evening, I laughed, and the 105 minutes went past quickly. But it just didn’t feel like the mood and pace were right for the play. I like sensitive, subdued realism, but it felt incongruous here. The ending was odd too - not much sense of resolution, and one of those long silences, while the audience slowly realised it had finished.
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Post by Mark on Dec 23, 2022 10:11:27 GMT
I liked it, but didn't love it. Found it quite disjointed (intentional) and a lot of the roles to be caricatures and unbelievable. A couple of good laughs though, and overall enjoyable.
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1,338 posts
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Post by Dave B on Dec 29, 2022 23:15:14 GMT
I saw it this evening, a very quiet Hampstead Theatre. I broadly agree with most people above, I liked it well enough and it was occasionally funny. I thought Irfan Shamji did a fantastic job particularly as the story went along and he really nailed the ending which I definitely connected with.
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