Orpheus Descending

Ohhh, I thought they were talking about the show!

I saw this last night and have to say I am surprised by the negative reaction. It's the third time I've seen this play and, though it's not classic Tennessee Williams, I think it has moments of real poetic beauty and is a fine example of a well made play. Yes, it takes a while to shift out of first gear but, once it gets going, it's a compelling drama that I found constantly gripping and engaging.

I liked the simplicity of the staging here, which pushes focus onto the actors, nearly all of whom give excellent performances. I wasn't sure about Seth Numrich at first but, rather as his character grows throughout the play, he became engaging and sympathetic and oh, so charming. His chemistry with Hattie Morahan was quite powerful and I thought she was so much better here than in A Doll's House, strong yet vulnerable, and her grief and pain at the final revelation was very moving. I really believed in them and felt that their story was tragic rather than melodramatic, as it so easily could have been.

And most of the supporting cast were top rate. Terrifying but believably human. Special mention to Ian Porter as Sheriff Talbot, Mark Meadows as Jabe Torrance and Carrie Quinlan as a chillingly icy Nurse Porter. I've always liked Jemima Rooper, who gives a typically strong performance, though I think she is slightly miscast as the fey and damaged Carol Cutrere.

Valentine Hanson's performance of Williams's stage directions I felt was a very effective touch. Tennessee Williams is, I believe, such a great writer that even these moments have a genuine descriptive beauty, adding to the sense of storytelling and the dreamlike quality of this production. And they perfectly set the scene without adding unnecessary clutter to the design.

Only the slightly odd decision to turn monologues into soliloquies jarred with me slightly. But even that would have worked if it had been followed through with a bit more confidence.

Atmospheric and constantly involving, this was a fine production of a lesser known Tennessee Williams play that took me into another time and place, and one that was warmly received by an appreciative audience. Four stars.

I thought this was rather good in its slow burner kinda way.

The themes of the play are really strong but I can't help feeling the script could be shorter and tighter. Also the production needed to have some dirt in it. Dirt on the floor, table clothes and blood on the walls it was all too clean and generally lacking some umph.

I think the place was appropriately shabby and run-down, but I don't think it would have been dirty.  The owner of the mercantile wasn't slovenly or lazy, so why would she be opening a new confectionary with dirty tablecloths, much less be running a general store that had blood on the walls?  I think the phrase "genteel poverty" comes to mind... people who were poor, but still proud enough to keep up appearances and aspire to more.  That certainly fits Lady's background as the daughter of a (briefly) successful, hard-working immigrant and her aspirations in opening the confectionary.

(I agree about the script, though... the first act pretty much beat the main points into the ground.)

And sitting in the front row puts you pretty much right on the edge of some loud and violent action.  I had my fingers stuck in my ears for much of the second act.

All in all, it kept me interested throughout, but 'interested', not 'engaged' or 'enthralled'. 

And I see what people mean about the glacial pace of leaving after the show.  Although I did have time to look around and saw another, emergency exit.  Oh, and the seats... better than the Globe, but only because of the back rests.

I think they downplayed that aspect throughout this production.  (Although I've never seen or read the play, so don't know how explicit that was made in other productions.)

I may be too literal-minded, because I can see the mythic parallels on a very abstract level, but not in the details. Val doesn't come to town to rescue his lost love, he doesn't bargain with the god of the underworld to gain her, he doesn't look back at the last second and doom her (or does he... the last scene happened so quickly that I don't remember every detail). So I can buy the set-up as being similar to the myth, but I think it diverges pretty quickly. But I could well be missing the plot (literally).