The Motive and the Cue

Saturday 3rd February

Huge thanks go to Avanti West Coast, whose strike stopped me going home this morning, for enabling this treat. 

A powerful, sad, funny play with affectionate but not unduly flattering portrayals of Geilgud and Burton. Mark Gatiss was extraordinary. Johnny Flynn produced a great and moving physical performance but, of course, could not fully capture the mellifluous, yet clipped, Welshness of Burton’s voice. Tuppence Middleton was charming as Elizabeth Taylor.

Exceptionally moving - not least because one knows how Burton’s demons and drinking lead to his self-destruction. 

Standing ovations seem de rigeur for any show these days but this one was truly deserved. Many left the theatre wiping a tear from their eye. And the bloke in the row behind me said “well, that was worth missing the rugby for”.

The House of Bernarda Alba

Wednesday, 6th December 2024

If I hadn’t seen Dame Harriet in this, I’d have felt like I was missing out. Now I know I wouldn’t have been. 

The set was a bizarre (seemingly) meaningless monotone pale green. The rifle, the only thing not green, was so obvious a signpost that it failed entirely to build any tension or curiosity as to the inevitable ending. HW’s accent was strangely inconsistent though her delivery was otherwise compelling while everyone around her simply projected their lines into the audience as though the National has no sound system. Tedious in the extreme.