Post by Marwood on Jan 4, 2018 14:19:48 GMT
I caught the first night of this last night at the Vaudeville: Simon Callows one man show/monologue, based on Oscar Wildes letter to Lord Alfred Douglas in Reading Gaol.
It was advertised as 80 minutes straight through, no interval but it ran for nearly 90 minutes - I enjoyed it, thought it was excellently acted/performed by Callow with a lightness of touch (he seemed an expert at turning on the facial waterworks as and when needed), in lesser actors hands it could have been oh so easy to make the whole thing seem too over melodramatic. No flubbing of lines, I was kind of impressed that he remembered such a long, wordy monologue, until it finished and was walking out, I spotted the two tv screens/prompters situated above the front stalls seats...
Main problem was the running time: after the first 60 minutes or so, it did seem to cover the same ground again and again before ending, what with the production being Callow/Wilde sat on a chair on a darkened stage for the duration, without anyone else to interact with, interest dipped after a while (I could see a couple of people in front of me nod off during the play, and I myself was struggling by the end), but I'm glad I saw this, I;ve always wanted to see one of Callows one man shows but never got round to it in the past - its only on until the weekend, so worth going to see if you have aninterest in Wilde (although it does assume you have a basic knowledge of why Wilde is in jail, its basically the letter transposed to the stage without any exposition put into proceedings) or are seeing any of the Wilde plays that are on at the Vaudeville this year.
It was advertised as 80 minutes straight through, no interval but it ran for nearly 90 minutes - I enjoyed it, thought it was excellently acted/performed by Callow with a lightness of touch (he seemed an expert at turning on the facial waterworks as and when needed), in lesser actors hands it could have been oh so easy to make the whole thing seem too over melodramatic. No flubbing of lines, I was kind of impressed that he remembered such a long, wordy monologue, until it finished and was walking out, I spotted the two tv screens/prompters situated above the front stalls seats...
Main problem was the running time: after the first 60 minutes or so, it did seem to cover the same ground again and again before ending, what with the production being Callow/Wilde sat on a chair on a darkened stage for the duration, without anyone else to interact with, interest dipped after a while (I could see a couple of people in front of me nod off during the play, and I myself was struggling by the end), but I'm glad I saw this, I;ve always wanted to see one of Callows one man shows but never got round to it in the past - its only on until the weekend, so worth going to see if you have aninterest in Wilde (although it does assume you have a basic knowledge of why Wilde is in jail, its basically the letter transposed to the stage without any exposition put into proceedings) or are seeing any of the Wilde plays that are on at the Vaudeville this year.
