Sweat, Donmar Warehouse

Fairly broad reaction after seeing this yesterday: quite a middle of the road production for me. Lots and lots of talking but nothing new in terms of the thinking behind it and overall it felt quite slow. It’s just redrawing the industrial decline in the West and what that may look like for the working class. A subject that could be interesting is talked to death. Specially detested the overly didactic ending. The acting was ok, it just didn’t really come alive. I wouldn’t say don’t go but don’t expect to be more than mildly entertained. Hope the next one at the Donmar will be more exciting.

Absolutely loved this tonight- seriously terrific cast for a seriously terrific play.

Glad you enjoyed it, missthelma; I was also at yesterday's matinee but you seem to have covered just about everything!

I found it long, intense and engaging, though I did think the very last part of the ending went too far. Without spoiling it for those yet to see this, one of the two developments would have sufficed imo. And unlike you, I had no idea who any of the cast were, but I prefer it that way as then nothing gets in the way of seeing them as the characters.

I hope this gets a transfer, given the reviews. I'd love to see it - I was hoping to get to the matinee this weekend but there isn't one!

No doubt

This is a fine evening out

It’s a good (but far from amazing) play

With some of the best acting of the year

Truly excellent performances

You also leave the theatre thinking hard

BUT

The whole concept relies on this

“Poverty porn” which theatre so often falls back on

The conversation around me during the interval was pretty stunted

“Oh I did my 11 plus as a child and had support”
“Oh they don’t understand the value of education”

My point is that the play only presented things from the viewpoint of the workers and was also pretty simplistic on that front

At the end of the day the people portrayed were not complex individuals

Their aspirations and enjoyment

Derived from spending money they didn’t have on large amounts of alcohol and cigarettes

They were presented as lacking any sort of resilience to find an alternative job or move away from the area

They were so attached to the past in a way I found unattractive that I didn’t have any empathy for their situation

I would have liked to see someone from the plant owners as they likely also have a family and financial commitments

The play didn’t delve anywhere into wider issues

About how society want everything for nothing and they want it now

This is why costs are being squeezed and labour costs are pushed down in order to maximise profits

Given Lyn Nottage claims she did 2.5 years of research for this play I find it amazing this is the outcome
A one sided moan fest about how people are f***ed over by the corporates

There were also inconsistent comments
“I am making good money at the plant”
“I have worked at the plant for 24 years”

And then suddenly after 2 months of no work they are relying on unemployment money

Where were their savings and rainy day contingency?

sh*t happens people lose their jobs
Some people spend their life scraping by


The “get out” of education was also a dated view
Plenty of people have a university degree
A student loan they will never pay off
And job they could have got without any higher education

Things aren’t black and white anymore in terms of life and job progression

The play had a very black and white view and babyish at that of what “success” is

As I said the acting was amazing

But presenting a bunch of no hopers who are pretty nasty people and quite stupid with it

To a white middle class audience to perve over and pretend to be outraged about

Seems so insincere

Also the bar fight was so pathetically staged

Really unconvincing

But again the acting is totally wonderful

At the end I sort of felt everyone got what they deserved

Other than the poor bar man who was injured

But again this was freak accident as part of the fight

And it felt contrived and detached from the main plot

I wonder if you showed this play on a tour of industrial towns in the UK and USS

Outside of the confines of middle class theatre

If they would be raving about it

I doubt it

There is an element of pomposity here

And I am not sure what the message is

Don’t do jobs that are unskilled
I am unsure

Anyway I didn’t feel sorry or sad for the characters in the slightest

Taking alcohol and drugs and smoking and beating people up is not the solution to anything

They got what they deserved

I loved Ruined

Amazing it was

Absolutely loved this tonight - possibly my play of the year and the best thing at the Donmar for a very long time. Highly recommended.

Quite simply the best piece of new American writing I have seen in years. Lynne Nottage's skill as a dramatist is extraordinary and is given full justice here by her brilliant director, designer and cast. The way she unfolds her plot is utterly compelling and the characters are rich, deep and full of life. If there was any justice this would win every Best Play award of 2018. It's my best of the year so far. I know its only January, but it quite probably will be still come December (I look forward to seeing the play I enjoy more). If you can't get to see this then do read it. It's a modern masterpiece and should be experienced by anyone who loves great theatre. Absolutely outstanding.

Great but I hope this isn't in lieu of a transfer.

When asked about a transfer for Sweat in the Guardian yesterday, Martha Plimpton said " As regards a transfer / extension, watch this space". Hopefully we'll get both.

Wow, I thought this was a really good play that touched on hugely timely and important topics. While it didn't quite reach the high watermark of recent drama on the decline of American industrial cities that was the second season of The Wire, this was still a great, thought-provoking couple of hours.

While the play was clearly written with a specific viewpoint to tell, the characters felt well rounded and 'true' with human (ie shifting and often contradictory) ideas and motivations driving their actions. I also really liked the fact that the story restricted itself to the central characters rather than attempting to go further. No doubt another side to this tale might come from the factory owners, or their customers (I.e. us), but imo it's completely fine for a complex story to be told without covering all the bases.

As @theatremonkey mentioned, I also felt that, while the first half was fantastic, the second was weaker. And unfortunately, while I agreed with the sentiment of the play, I really disliked the final scene and a half, which felt too contrived and explicit about its mission statement. For me the message of the play was clear, and it would have been far more impactful if it had ended in a more subtle manner.

Similarly, the fact that they played Childish Gambino's 'This is America' at the end also felt a little on the nose.

All in all though, despite some minor niggles I felt that this was really good. It was my first play for 2019 and a great start to my theatre-going year.

I think that was crucial - we didn't even see the bar owner: all the decisions made that affect the lives of the characters are made from high above by an invisible, untouchable Olympian caste, so the characters instead vent their upset and anger sideways, and division and an element of racism enters.