I do everything other people do - but I don't feel it's real

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews...

Good : NT Live (Odyssey)

Something slightly different this time - it's one of those "see a play at the cinema" things.  I've watched a couple at home and quite liked them, but it certainly doesn't give you anything like a theatrical experience from the sofa, so I was intrigued what it would be like in the cinema.  And I'd nearly gone and seen this play last year, so it seemed like a good choice to head along to The Odyssey in St Albans (our local!) with the lovely Mrs Reed to see a) what the play was like and b) what watching the play in the cinema was like.

So first, the play - the curtain goes up (and it does in both locations) to reveal a surprisingly small room with three people in it.  And that's the way it stays - most of the cast stay on stage for the entire time and there are limited changes to the set.  At various points in time doors open in the walls (sometimes to surprising effect) but the effort here went in stage design rather than stage management.

Something else that involved a lot of design is character management because the play features many more than three characters and one of the cast only plays one character - let's hope he's a good actor, eh?  Oh, it's David Tennant - I think we'll be fine.  He plays John Halder, a German literary professor in 1933 who is, ostensibly, a good man - married, looks after his mother, good with his students and doesn't have much time for Hitler, as evidenced by his Jewish best friend, Maurice.  But - could a good man turn bad?  Well, you'll have to watch it to find out (but you can probably guess).

The other characters are played by Elliot Levey (Maurice and plenty of others) and Sharon Small (John's wife, mother, mistress and plenty of others) and they both do a good job of signposting which character they're playing with the use of accents and/or body posture - particularly Sharon who at times plays two characters at the same time.  And she does it very well, as does David who responds to the characters differently and almost simultaneously.  There are also a LOT of words in the play which have to be delivered with pin-point precision and they all did an excellent job here.

Bizarrely, that's actually not the entire cast - they are joined by one additional member on stage for the last two minutes, which seems like a particularly bizarre decision to make but I'm sure they had their reasons.  It also appeared that he joined from the audience, which means he (whoever he is - I can't be bothered looking up his name) must have seen the play LOADS of times just for two minutes work a night.

So, the play is well acted and well directed and hence very watchable.  It's all very clever (although it takes a bit of time to figure out what's going on) and it also features a very clever ending, with a very Animal Farm-esque ending where one line neatly concludes the entire play.  David was as good as you'd expect, but he's provided with excellent support from Elliott and Sharon (the other guy - not so much).

And what was the whole "play in the cinema" thing like?  Generally, I'm pretty positive about the whole thing - the whole cost and convenience thing is obviously a great benefit, even more so when you consider the close-up shots (eg Elliott crying on cue) which you'd totally miss unless you'd paid top whack (which I never do).  We also got a brief introduction to each half from someone very posh and cultural and a little film about CP Taylor, the playwright - who was an odd fellow and no mistake (he was born in Glasgow in the 20s and he was called Cecil, for starters!) but unfortunately died just as this play (which was commissioned by the RSC) was turning out to be a success.  

I think my major quibble (complaint would be too hard a word) was the lack of audience interaction - it's not exactly a comedy, but there are humorous lines in it and no-one seemed sure how to respond to them.  And the lack of applause (except from onscreen) at the end just felt very odd - despite there being no-one there to applaud.  At times, the camera work wasn't absolutely top notch (jerky or out of focus) which was somewhat off-putting but this was a rarity.

What I have no complaints about is the location - The Odyssey is an absolute gem of a cinema and we're so lucky to have it.  The seats are sooooo much more comfortable than any in any theatre with so much more room that it makes it a completely different experience - and I think "a completely different experience" is the best way to view it.  You're not going to see a play or a film - you're going to see a film of a play and you should just enjoy it for what it is and I certainly intend to go and see some more there (I'm not it would quite such an enjoyable experience in the local Odeon multiplex).

Considering this play, I'd certainly recommend it - it's very much a proper play with a serious topic, dealt with in an interesting manner and well acted.  What more could you want?

For Black Boys... - a proper piece of theatre
A Streetcar Named Desire - some proper acting!