Saint George and the Dragon (National Theatre)

I think tmesis meant Common and typed Consent by mistake.

Silly me, I did indeed mean Common. I enjoyed Consent!

2 stars in The Times but can't read the review due to paywall. Hope this doesn't put them off giving new writers a chance

Wow, what a drama llama! Where has he been these last few weeks? I can think of many things more shocking than a show going up late because of delays in getting tickets to audience members, and I think posting pictures of out-of-order urinals and lifts doesn't really illustrate his point unless his point is that he is becoming slowly unhinged. Shame for the show though, he'll tell you he's entirely impartial because he's a professional critic, but we all know that your mood going in truly does affect how you feel about a piece.

The 3 star reviews from Time Out and The Arts Desk are exactly right - both critics get it perfectly. And the Heff is simply wonderful, as he always is.

I'm always baffled by the apparent size of Shenton's ego, which seems out of all proportion to his job and influence - I mean, The Stage is hardly widely read, is it? It's basically a parish newsletter.

ALSO (I'm on a full on St George rant now...) I don't doubt it's got problems, from what I've read (will decide for myself on Saturday) But I'm also getting a bit sick of 'Critic Twitter' falling over themselves to be the most 'edgy' and only down with 'boundary pushing' theatre. Which usually only involves an obscure Fringe theatre and a short run that most of us won't get to see. I've seen it both with St George and Heisenberg this week, both worthy of critique and certainly not perfect plays. But I'm sick of the one-upmanship (PERSONship before they call me out on that) to be the most 'Intelligent' by which mainly a lot of writers mean 'trying to prove I'm more clever than you if you like this play'

It's entirely possible to 'like' a play and reasonably discuss it's flaws but also acknoledge it's valid said play and said production isn't the end of civilization as we know it, or a marker that every audience member who comes away thinking 'well that was ok I enjoyed that' is somehow 'stupid'

This is a slightly off topic rant but this play has already brought some of that into focus...

It's a clever idea, but clever ideas do not good 2.45hr plays make. Apart from the initial dragon slaying scene the direction is turgid and painfully literal. Without Hef and Bleach's camp off it would be a real slog.

The NT do need to do something about the queue situation. It wasn't just the late start, it was the unprofessional manner it was handled. You'd think at some point they'd stop acting so unprepared every single press night.

To me it looks like they Travelex shows they think will be unpopular to boost attendance a bit. I think it is probably counterproductive as casual or fist time theatregoers lured in by low prices may end up never going again.

I agree, a lazy review. I would put the play between 2 and 3 stars, so it's not that I thought his rating was way off - it was, as dani says, 'the mulling.' To have a go at Julian Bleach (who IMO gave one of the best performances) of over-acting the Dragon. Really? How small and naturalistic did he want the Dragon performance to be?

I think the National is going through a funny patch at the moment, but I do have a fondness for it. I love the big public spaces (there's a good poster exhibition on in one of them at the moment) and though there are lots of flops there are some winners too....

I guess if birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs, and our idea of a dinosaur isn't that far off from our idea of a dragon, then you could do a lot worse than hang out with some angry chickens for a day or two.