Friday, 21 February 2014

20 February 2014. Rapture, blister, burn at Hampstead

I had high expectations of this play, egged on by the largely positive reviews it had received and having repressed the views of the FT that this was a dull play. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c50d9264-923c-11e3-9e43-00144feab7de.html#axzz2trLuUlfr

Unfortunately, for me, the FT was spot on. The 'play' consists largely of a rehearsal of views on feminism and whether there is a dilemma between having a family and having a career. Much of the 'action' takes place in a contrived seminar with the characters debating the issues. Really, it would have been much easier to sit down and read the ideas rather than have them fed to us by the actresses. It felt like being at the 'start the week' studio.

The action was almost non-existent apart from the two main female characters swapping each others lives for a while. But we saw nothing of what happened to the erstwhile housewife who went to New York, so the supposed dilemmas where never really played out; just spoken about.

I fear this will be quickly forgotten despite the great set which was, for me, the best part of the experience. The only other redeeming feature was that the script captured well the tedium into which relationships and people can decend. The male character who has settled for under-achievement in his career and marriage is reported to spend his time smoking dope and wanking to porn. But his wife's willingness largely to put up with this, apart from her brief jaunt to New York, seemed somewhat lame. 

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