6 October, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I kept my promise to begin attending at least one cultural event or other such activity each week.  On Saturday I went to the theatre to see 6 Characters in Search of an Author.  It’s a modern adaptation of a play by Luigi Pirandello.  My first winter in London, I saw a Pirandello play called “As You Desire Me,” which starred Kristin Scott Thomas and Bob Hoskins.  It was a fabulous play, so as soon as I heard another Pirandello work was being staged on the West End, I knew I had to go.

This play has received rave reviews in all the papers [I can't sum up the plot -- just check out the reviews if interested: Telegraph, Guardian] and it was the critic’s choice of the week in Time Out. It stars Ian McDiarmid, otherwise know as the Emperor from the Star Wars movies.  [He now looks like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons.]  I got a ticket for only £10, then as often happens, got bumped up to the dress circle. Yay!  The Gielgud Theatre is one of the more comfortable theatres in London.

I had high hopes for this play, given the critical raves, but, well…when the curtains closed at intermission, the guy sitting behind me said to his wife [I actually wrote this down in my notebook so I wouldn't forget]:  “This is a load of bollocks.  I think I’m starting to feel ill.”  And then his hilarious rant went on for five more minutes.  He and his wife left and didn’t come back.  The four elderly people sitting next to me didn’t return after the interval either.

I have to agree with this guy.  The play was horrible.  It’s full of shrieking, crying, screaming and, well, theatrics.  Completely over-the-top.  It was like a Saturday Night Live parody of pretentious theatre.  I don’t mind intense drama, but I have to be interested in the characters.  I don’t have to like them, but I have to be invested in them in some way.  I wasn’t interested in these characters and began looking at my watch 20 minutes in.  Much of the play focuses on incest but the storyline had no emotional resonance or depth.  It just felt hollow and meaningless.  And hey, theatre critics — the modern-day framing device wasn’t brilliant, it was hackneyed.  Get a grip.  This was all incredibly draining to watch.  I often agree with theatre critics, but not this time.  I want to get my hands on the original play.  This was a modernized version, rewritten and thoroughly updated.  I want to read what Pirandello actually wrote, which I’m sure is outstanding.

After this theatrical disaster, I went to Wagamama’s with Miss Anne of Chicago, who was in town visiting.  Wagamama’s screwed up our order and was slower than hell, as per usual, but they gave us our appetizers free to make up for it.  I was pretty shocked.  Then we went to a Belgian bar, which was fun.  It was such a rainy night that the bar and restaurant weren’t super crowded.

So anyway, my first theatrical event of the autumn wasn’t that grand.  But I only paid £10 for my ticket and in one sense, it was fun to see something that was just so damn bad.

1. Comments RSS | TrackBack URI

1. Anne Says:

   October 6th, 2008 at 2:08 pm

   I still cannot believe they gave us the appetizers for free and were completely apologetic; I think I’m still in shock.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website