Bluets - Royal Court

This is great to hear - I’ve been really looking forwards to this one ( and to be back enjoying stuff at the RC!)

It was interesting to see the scenes numbered in the bottom corner of the screen. It reached 600+ but occasionally jumped forward by three or five which I assumed were either last-minute excisions or actors forgetting certain elements of the script. The fact it looked so seamless was very impressive - the concentration that must require from those behind the scenes is awe-inspiring.

I was engaged by the plot - the shifting perspectives, the melancholia, the journey in and out of despair - but it's only thinking back after the production that I could really appreciate the prose poem. The production is so frenetic there's not much time for reflection while you're watching what's on stage.

I have a ticket for this on the noticeboard if anyone is interested (8 June evening). Managed to book for when I’m away somehow!

This is practically sold out

The last 2 upstairs shows were also sold out

New times for the venue bode well

Saw this tonight and I agree with the poster above who said this is hypnotic and fascinating.

It is the reading of selected extracts of a prose poem about and by a person who worships the colour, blue, so if that sounds awful, then nothing is going to make you like this piece.

But Katie Mitchell massively complicates, and simultaneously simplifies the prose poem, by the images she presents on a big screen above the actors, and by having us watch the actors construct those images, which arguably changes the meaning of the piece again.

I think it's really dreamy and it reminds me of being very young and turning on Channel 4 late at night, watching some weird thing you wouldn't see on any other channel, and wondering if the meaning of life was hidden in there somewhere lol.

Some spoilers follow. . .

Its also really intriguing, because from the very start it's telling three stories at once:-

(1) There's the prose poem by Maggie Nelson, edited by Margaret Perry, about a narrator obsessed with the colour, blue, through which prism she interprets her whole life;

(2) There's the story Katie Mitchell is telling on a big screen behind the actors, about one person, played by 3 actors, who always seems to be either brooding or in transit, often brooding WHILE in transit lol; and

(3) There's the story being told by the construction of the above film, which completely twists the meaning of the film.

To elaborate on how this worked for me, consider the following:-

(a) I think the main thing we take from the prose poem is that blue is essentially meaningless, just a fetish of the narrator that stands in for everything else she cares about, especially her lover and her injured friend;

(b) Meanwhile, the film generalises the poem, and makes it mundane.

The film generalises the story by taking a story written by a white woman, and depicting it as narrated by both a black woman and a white man, rendering both race and gender irrelevant, and the story universal. The narrator is never seen narrating, but rather thinking, as the pictured person in the film is always voiced by the other two narrators, as if thoughts in the pictured persons' head.

The film makes the narrative mundane because no matter how passionate, specific or sad the narrative, by and large, all we see on the screen is the lonely narrator, either journeying to, or fixed in contemplation of, their 'blue' fetish object, travelling by tube, train or by foot, stopping to contemplate the object and then travelling again.

The vision of Maggie Nelson is of passion and loneliness seen through the prism of blue. But the vision of Katie Mitchell is that objectively, it's all just mundane travelling and stopping to think.

(c) However, the actors constructing the film, Katie Mitchell shows us, are in fact not journeying anywhere. They are in fact walking on the spot in front of a projection of moving terrain. They are statically positioned to look like they are riding vehicles when in fact they don't move.

The implication of all these storytelling layers is profound: (i) not only are our pursuits illusory (blue is just something our brains construct out of light waves, even if we value it highly); (ii) not only are our lives mere journeys towards and in contemplation of such illusions, but (iii) even the journeys we take may be fictions we create for ourselves.

In other words, we really are all just living in The Matrix, or as The Verve's Richard Ashcroft would put it, "all the love we have is in our minds."

Anyway, everyone will see something different, I'm sure, but those are the thoughts I was hypnotised into having while I watched this fascinating production, as rich as any of the old weird stuff they used to put on Channel 4 late at night lol.

I also thought that Whishaw, D'Arcy and Meikle do a seamless job of blending into one contemplative lonely person.

For its sheer strange stimulating originality, I'd give this 4 stars.

Can't believe I was at the same performance as the mighty Steve

My views on this production are really a bit coloured by my seats in the front row - I know front row is often a compromise in terms of view, which is why it's cheaper, but in this instance some of the front row seats should really have been sold as restricted view - if you are stuck behind one of the cameras, as I was, you have virtually no view of the actors and a very compromised view of the big screen (which is a long way up so prepare for neck ache/backache). It's one of the few theatrical productions I'd rather have seen from the circle.

That aside, I did find the text reading quite compelling and from what I could see the conceit of three actors playing the same character worked well. As others have said, the logistics of this show are astonishing and I can't imagine the rehearsal process. (there is an article about it in the programme, which in this case is I think worth buying to understand a bit more about the Live Cinema process if one is unfamiliar with it)

So, for me, an interesting but ultimately disappointing night at the theatre.

Awaiting a response from RCT box office. Front row tickets were sold at second price, £46.

I have a front row seat as I always book these

Should I raise an issue with theatre

Thanks for both flagging

I think where you sit will greatly influence quite how much you enjoy this. Sitting in the dress circle the “finished article” i.e. the film is at eye level, so you’re able to tune into the the film and listen to the words without distraction, but can also drop your eyes to the actors themselves to marvel in the very organised chaos when you want to. I found it hypnotic and far more entertaining than I’d thought I might. I found some of the text really beautiful, and just when I thought it might be outstaying its welcome it finished. I was also so impressed at the actors keeping up with everything going on and their generosity and support of one another rather than ever trying to make it about themself. About halfway through I really started to feel it was almost one voice rather than 3 separate actors.

But I imagine sitting in the stalls and trying to view the screen with the actors directly in front would make it all incredibly distancing and distracting, stage managers rushing in and out, moving TVs, swapping boards of props etc.

It was definitely a 4-star show for me - not necessarily how I would like all my theatre to be but a really fascinating experiment, and an interesting start to the David Byrne era.

God this is pretentious twaddle, a 15 minute verse stretched to 80 minutes, the front of the stage is basically 3 cameras and 3 tables which depending on position will always obscure at least one of the actors if in the stalls.

Two saving graces, only 80 minutes and the overlay of the actors on the background screens was impressive.


With the introduction of the friend, my take was that heart break, just get over it, couldn’t even see why they needed 3 actors as it did not come over as different facets of the same person, only 3 people taking it in turns to speak.

Hopefully somebody will have a different take which flew over my head.

Ticket posted on the noticeboard.