This was an extraordinary theatrical event which tipped into the surreal in the third and final section. It all starts off ordinary enough as a somewhat tense woman prepares for her mother's birthday party, ending up fainting with the pressure. After this half hour, the action is repeated silently with the sound over of pundits discussing what race they'd choose to be. Gradually this commentary morphs entirely into the pundits commentating (mainly in derogatory terms) on what the family are doing. Then finally is the surreal bit as the brother, daughter's friend and granny make their appearance. Finally we end up with the mainly white audience invited to come on stage and see things from the black actors' viewpoint.
I certainly felt the impact of an extraordinary 90 minutes but I cannot claim to have got fully the messages that were being conveyed by Jackie Sibblies Drury. The reviews were generally good for this sellout production directed by Nadia Latif. The fact that the play won the Pullitzer prize added to the hype and certainly the creativity made this one to see.
Sunday, 12 January 2020
Tuesday, 7 January 2020
7 January 2020. As you like it at the Barbican
I'm afraid I did not really get on with this RSC production. It seemed gimmicky and to end up a bit of a mess. Somehow, the flow of the play got lost and I felt we ended up with isolated scenes. I did not think the sudden transformation at the end of Act One to our observing the backstage worked - quite the opposite; it was lost on me. Equally the rather silly bits of audience participation seemed a distraction. Some of the acting was good, in particular Lucy Phelps as Rosalind but on the other hand Sophie Stanton's delivery of the 'all the world's a stage' and seven ages masterpiece felt very underpowered.
All in all, this felt like an irritating waste of time and money - so different from the National's production four years ago. My biggest beef is that all the distractions completely caused me to lose the thread of the story. The only positives for me were some of the acting and the extraordinary giant figure that emerged and served as a backdrop for the final scenes. That was, to be fair, amazing and rather beautiful.
All in all, this felt like an irritating waste of time and money - so different from the National's production four years ago. My biggest beef is that all the distractions completely caused me to lose the thread of the story. The only positives for me were some of the acting and the extraordinary giant figure that emerged and served as a backdrop for the final scenes. That was, to be fair, amazing and rather beautiful.
6 January 2020. A Kind of People at the Royal Court
This thought-provoking play at the Royal Court was excellently acted and deserved the applause it received. Essentially, it represented a challenge to the white majority in the audience to ponder the biases and sense of superiority which lie endemic in our unconscious templates for viewing people and situations.
We have two friends and colleagues - one black (Gary) and the other white (Mark) - who work as white goods repairmen. In the opening act, it's Mark birthday which he is celebrating in Gary and his wife's (Nicky) flat. Also there are Gary's sister, Karen, and their Asian friends Mo and Anjum.
Things take a rapid dive when Victoria, the boss of Gary and Mark who has tagged along gets drunk and betrays her patronising and racist attitudes, demanding that Gary teaches her to dance like a black woman and patting his head in the process.
Everyone is appalled and she is bundled into a taxi. However, the incident weighs on Gary's mind and he confronts Victoria back at work, fully supported by his friend Mark. Victoria is keen to brush it off as too many drinks and denies any prejudice. However, her attitudes are again under the spotlight when Gary fails to get a promotion to team-leader event though he is apparently better qualified than the white candidate who is successful. This incident provokes a crisis and unfolding of Gary's world. Gary quits work much to the anxiety of Nicky who is worried about the implications for their rent and the future of their three children. She adds fuel to Gary's fire by going round to see if she can broker a reconciliation with Victoria. This ends in failure and when it is leaked by Mark it serves as a bitter blow to Gary who decides to walk out of his marriage.
In a twist which seemed less plausible, Mark now makes a move on Nicky which she firmly rejects and puts an end to their friendship. However, the incident leads us to question the genuineness of his professed friendship towards Gary. Nicky's tensions reach a boiling point which she vents on their young son who has a habit of urinating on his school uniform. Karen steps in and takes the children to her house and we have Nicky in a state of well-acted breakdown, followed by a final scene of her reconciling with Gary.
All in all, it was a riveting 95 minutes and one which conveyed very clearly the black perspective of the prejudices they perceive in society - even down to his wife's attitude that she needs to step in and sort things out. Of course, this isn't all necessarily due to race but the play shows the logic of the perception.
It is a well-constructed play with all the characters adding depth. Mo and Anjum's role is particularly interesting. They are a minority but they seem to have better adapted to playing the system - They rent a flat near a good school as their Plan B should their not particularly gifted son fail the 11+. He is being co-tutored with Gary and Nicky's boy. Both boys fail, Gary and Nicky's by a couple of decimal points. Unfortunately, they have no Plan B and the friendship with Mo and Anjum comes to a halt at this event, with Nicky disgusted by their gaming the system.
The acting, direction and set were all great and this was a very worthwhile evening I thought.
We have two friends and colleagues - one black (Gary) and the other white (Mark) - who work as white goods repairmen. In the opening act, it's Mark birthday which he is celebrating in Gary and his wife's (Nicky) flat. Also there are Gary's sister, Karen, and their Asian friends Mo and Anjum.
Things take a rapid dive when Victoria, the boss of Gary and Mark who has tagged along gets drunk and betrays her patronising and racist attitudes, demanding that Gary teaches her to dance like a black woman and patting his head in the process.
Everyone is appalled and she is bundled into a taxi. However, the incident weighs on Gary's mind and he confronts Victoria back at work, fully supported by his friend Mark. Victoria is keen to brush it off as too many drinks and denies any prejudice. However, her attitudes are again under the spotlight when Gary fails to get a promotion to team-leader event though he is apparently better qualified than the white candidate who is successful. This incident provokes a crisis and unfolding of Gary's world. Gary quits work much to the anxiety of Nicky who is worried about the implications for their rent and the future of their three children. She adds fuel to Gary's fire by going round to see if she can broker a reconciliation with Victoria. This ends in failure and when it is leaked by Mark it serves as a bitter blow to Gary who decides to walk out of his marriage.
In a twist which seemed less plausible, Mark now makes a move on Nicky which she firmly rejects and puts an end to their friendship. However, the incident leads us to question the genuineness of his professed friendship towards Gary. Nicky's tensions reach a boiling point which she vents on their young son who has a habit of urinating on his school uniform. Karen steps in and takes the children to her house and we have Nicky in a state of well-acted breakdown, followed by a final scene of her reconciling with Gary.
All in all, it was a riveting 95 minutes and one which conveyed very clearly the black perspective of the prejudices they perceive in society - even down to his wife's attitude that she needs to step in and sort things out. Of course, this isn't all necessarily due to race but the play shows the logic of the perception.
It is a well-constructed play with all the characters adding depth. Mo and Anjum's role is particularly interesting. They are a minority but they seem to have better adapted to playing the system - They rent a flat near a good school as their Plan B should their not particularly gifted son fail the 11+. He is being co-tutored with Gary and Nicky's boy. Both boys fail, Gary and Nicky's by a couple of decimal points. Unfortunately, they have no Plan B and the friendship with Mo and Anjum comes to a halt at this event, with Nicky disgusted by their gaming the system.
The acting, direction and set were all great and this was a very worthwhile evening I thought.
3 January 2020. SnowFlake at the Kiln
This was a seemingly straightforward play by Mike Bartlett, pointing out the destructiveness of power relationships and of belittling remarks.
The first act features a solo as the 43 year old widowered Dad, Andy, rehearses and prepares for the showing up of his estranged daughter at a Christmastime reunion he has planned in the neutral territory of the village hall. Natalie arrives, ostensibly to collect some plates for an event. She works the conversation around to Andy's reason for being there and starts advising him on the best approach - to listen and apologise. She is trying to point out that perhaps he has never really listened to his daughter of given her views proper respect. He dismisses his behaviours as normal family banter and ends up rowing with Natalie at which point the estranged daughter Maya shows up. We now realise that Maya and Natalie are in a relationship and Natalie was trying to smooth the ground for a reconciliation between Maya and her father because the rift is causing trouble to the two women's relationship.
Essentially, the action then involves Andy coming to see the insidious effect that his power play had had on his daughter. He had never got out of treating her as a child and she was sick of not having her voice heard and being treated as always of secondary importance. In particular, he had a condescending attitude that made fun of her ideas, in a subtle way putting them down. Even the protest is itself the subject of mockery - you're a snowflake. This could be seen as controlling behaviour but the play seemed to have it as thoughtless habit. Either way, we had a powerful illustration of how destructive this dynamic can be.
Some of the reviews seemed to focus on the substance of what these generations fought over and in particular that he voted for Brexit while Maya did not. However, to me it was far less the detail of the topics but the way in which the father treated his daughter's views that mattered and was the take-away from the evening.
Excellently acted, the play ends with a rather trite reconciliation between everyone - but then it is a Christmas play.
The first act features a solo as the 43 year old widowered Dad, Andy, rehearses and prepares for the showing up of his estranged daughter at a Christmastime reunion he has planned in the neutral territory of the village hall. Natalie arrives, ostensibly to collect some plates for an event. She works the conversation around to Andy's reason for being there and starts advising him on the best approach - to listen and apologise. She is trying to point out that perhaps he has never really listened to his daughter of given her views proper respect. He dismisses his behaviours as normal family banter and ends up rowing with Natalie at which point the estranged daughter Maya shows up. We now realise that Maya and Natalie are in a relationship and Natalie was trying to smooth the ground for a reconciliation between Maya and her father because the rift is causing trouble to the two women's relationship.
Essentially, the action then involves Andy coming to see the insidious effect that his power play had had on his daughter. He had never got out of treating her as a child and she was sick of not having her voice heard and being treated as always of secondary importance. In particular, he had a condescending attitude that made fun of her ideas, in a subtle way putting them down. Even the protest is itself the subject of mockery - you're a snowflake. This could be seen as controlling behaviour but the play seemed to have it as thoughtless habit. Either way, we had a powerful illustration of how destructive this dynamic can be.
Some of the reviews seemed to focus on the substance of what these generations fought over and in particular that he voted for Brexit while Maya did not. However, to me it was far less the detail of the topics but the way in which the father treated his daughter's views that mattered and was the take-away from the evening.
Excellently acted, the play ends with a rather trite reconciliation between everyone - but then it is a Christmas play.
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