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Post by jgblunners on Jul 7, 2019 10:54:31 GMT
Saw this on Tuesday and was very impressed - the Almeida does atmospheric theatre very well. Menzies and the children were all brilliant. Act Two gets very tense and I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of it. I agree with juicy_but_terribly_drab on the interpretation of the final moments - having never seen the film I didn't know what was going to happen but that final scene was very thought-provoking. |
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Post by dlevi on Jul 15, 2019 7:38:11 GMT
I wish I agreed with all of you. While the production itself was of a high standard I rather hated the play and the evening. My major problem with it was that its one of those plays where all that needs to happen is for the characters to allow "the accused" of finishing a sentence. Because no one in the play actually listens to anyone else I felt as if Mr Farr - usually a fine dramatist - didn't really address honestly the issues of the play ( a crowd mentality, the power of a lie etc.) . And while Es Devlin's set is at first rather wonderful, after a while it's magic wore off for me.
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Post by londonpostie on Jul 15, 2019 8:05:26 GMT
The 2012 Danish film was also captivating. I'd like to see this and while agreeing the accusation itself is a mechanism not the story, it's still very uncomfortable in other ways.
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Post by showgirl on Jul 21, 2019 14:44:34 GMT
I found this very impressive yesterday though it felt longer than it was, possibly because it was both so intense and tense. Not having seen the film I had no idea what to expect though I too have since been wondering about the ending. Not the kind of play you can look forward to or enjoy but imo well worth seeing - and a bargain at only £10 for a not-very-restricted-view seat.
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Post by n1david on Jul 25, 2019 23:02:37 GMT
I thought this was very good tonight, very tight production, great acting. This was one of the few plays I see where I thought there wasn't a wasted minute. There was a Q&A tonight after the show which dwelt on the ending to some extent (and some of the other issues addressed above) I liked the ending, my interpretation was that the person in the house was the person that Lucas would always be looking over his shoulder for, and would that person have a gun? Others in the audience treated it much more literally, and there was a view that Lucas had positioned himself to be shot by his son. One person in the Q&A described the ending as "crass" which I thought was wrong.
The response from Tobias Menzies was... the ending is intended to be ambiguous. He said that they had played with a number of different endings in previews, some of them more literal, but had settled on the ambiguous one and let audiences interpret what was going on. The story is a difficult one, and giving it a neat ending might give audiences a more satisfactory ending than the story deserved.
The subject also came up about why Lucas didn't defend himself more vigorously. The interpretation put on this was that if Lucas defended himself very strongly, the focus and attention moves to the child and whether or not she was lying, and Lucas felt uncomfortable making this into a he-said-she-said situation where there is an existing social dynamic. I'm not sure I quite buy in to that, but it is the case that Lucas knew the child from a baby and may have thought that there was a resolution that didn't involve confrontation (as it turned out, a little too neatly) But I thought this was another strong production at the Almeida - I really like what they're doing here, I don't love or even like everything, but I think it's an engaging programme. |
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Post by alexandra on Jul 30, 2019 11:31:00 GMT
Was anyone else concerned about the child actors? Getting such young kids (allowing for them probably being a year or two older than they looked) to describe a porn movie? And being abused? I'm sure they've had counselling and their parents are obviously happy for them to do it, but it bordered on abuse itself for me.
Good show though, if a little bit lacking in heart.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jul 30, 2019 13:11:26 GMT
It’s an interesting question.
I read Zawe Ashton’s book recently and there’s a chapter where she describes shooting a traumatic/violent scene with a baby, that the kids were getting really upset, and how conflicted she felt knowing the only way to get the director to wrap the scene was by doing something in her own performance that would upset the kids even more.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2019 14:41:11 GMT
Tbh having seen Ivo van Hove's The Damned at the Barbican, I'm no longer as concerned as I was about UK theatre exposing young actors to harmful themes. French theatre, on the other hand.....
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2019 7:18:44 GMT
Enjoyed this yesterday although I didn't think it added too much to the film. Regarding the child actors - their dialogue is structured quite carefully, I think, so they don't actually say anything explicit - eg they just use the word "thing" throughout, anything more is only used in scenes with just the adults on stage. On the ending, as far as I recall from the film ...
The girl's teenage brothers are characters in the film, and it them who show her porn. Also I think it is the brother who kills the dog (without the parents' knowledge). They are on the hunt at the end and I think it's implied or made clear that one of them shoots near Lucas, but doesn't actually hit him. As in the play the implication is he'll never really be trusted by everyone
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Post by n1david on Aug 27, 2019 10:35:15 GMT
If anyone’s interested, the Q&A I referred to above is now on the Almeida website. It does also discuss the safeguarding of the child actors. It’s about half an hour long. almeida.co.uk/talkback-the-hunt |
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Post by teamyali on Nov 3, 2023 8:35:19 GMT
Upping this post. It’s now back - well, transferring Off-Broadway! It will be held at St. Anne’s Warehouse, New York. Tobias Menzies is still playing the lead role. almeida.co.uk/whats-on/the-hunt-new-york/Sale opens on Nov. 15, staging from February to March 2024. My family is planning a US trip next year in time for my birthday on March, and I hope to catch this one. Or maybe a Broadway transfer would be great, should it be a bigger success at St. Anne’s, especially that Tobias is now an Emmy winner compared to when this was first staged four years ago. |
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Post by Rory on Nov 3, 2023 9:09:53 GMT
Upping this post. It’s now back - well, transferring Off-Broadway! It will be held at St. Anne’s Warehouse, New York. Tobias Menzies is still playing the lead role. almeida.co.uk/whats-on/the-hunt-new-york/Sale opens on Nov. 15, staging from February to March 2024. My family is planning a US trip next year in time for my birthday on March, and I hope to catch this one. Or maybe a Broadway transfer would be great, should it be a bigger success at St. Anne’s, especially that Tobias is now an Emmy winner compared to when this was first staged four years ago. This was very good, but how strange to suddenly bring it back 5 years later. |
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Post by theatreliker on Nov 3, 2023 15:00:07 GMT
I read this in very early lockdown and enjoyed it.
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