Post by mkb on Oct 9, 2022 0:09:20 GMT
It's a weird feeling coming out of a production you have thoroughly enjoyed to discover you're on your own. There is a plethora of mainly two-star reviews from the critics and I see negative comments on the Hampstead thread. Really? Did we see the same play?
This tale from Richard Eyre, both as writer and director, concerns a dysfunctional, middle-class, Northern family ravaged by politics and wildly differing perspectives on life, coming together for a celebratory meal.
Brexit, Covid and climate change are name-checked, but the play is less about those divisive issues and more about the pain that comes from female characters being suppressed in different ways by the needs of the patriarch of the family. The gay son, a fascist-lite SPAD in the Department for Education is not spared from damage.
Florence, the manager or owner -- it's not clear which -- of the catering company, is the sole sympathetic character, and the revelation of her story serves to shine a spotlight on the father, the consequences of actions and the need for redemption.
In Act 2, I found tears pouring down my cheeks. The resonance was all too real. I recognised these people and their sentiments. Eyre's dialogue is piercingly realistic, and the performances, without exception, are expertly realised.
It's an old-fashioned contemporary drama, but the issues are timeless.
Four stars.
Act 1: 14:35-15:22
Act 2: 15:42-16:26
This tale from Richard Eyre, both as writer and director, concerns a dysfunctional, middle-class, Northern family ravaged by politics and wildly differing perspectives on life, coming together for a celebratory meal.
Brexit, Covid and climate change are name-checked, but the play is less about those divisive issues and more about the pain that comes from female characters being suppressed in different ways by the needs of the patriarch of the family. The gay son, a fascist-lite SPAD in the Department for Education is not spared from damage.
Florence, the manager or owner -- it's not clear which -- of the catering company, is the sole sympathetic character, and the revelation of her story serves to shine a spotlight on the father, the consequences of actions and the need for redemption.
In Act 2, I found tears pouring down my cheeks. The resonance was all too real. I recognised these people and their sentiments. Eyre's dialogue is piercingly realistic, and the performances, without exception, are expertly realised.
It's an old-fashioned contemporary drama, but the issues are timeless.
Four stars.
Act 1: 14:35-15:22
Act 2: 15:42-16:26
