13 replies to this topic

[young offender]

I saw this on Saturday, my first visit to the Almeida. Well, I did turn up two weeks ago but it was cancelled due to illness.

Is the haunting real, or is it all the hysterical imagination of the governess?  Somehow this version tries to have it both ways: there’s a strong Freudian thread, complete with nightgown disturbances, no doubt to keep Islington’s psychotherapists interested; but at the same time it’s made explicit that the children are indeed corrupt, and the play relies for its Hammer-sponsored shocks on the all too real appearances of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. The subtleties of the novella (or the film The Innocents), where it’s all about the uncanny glimpse, are lost.

Setting this confusion aside, is the play scary? There are a few jumps, and an ingenious trick with a blackboard, but nothing as heart-stopping as the ‘back from the grave’ moment in Deathtrap a couple of years ago. If this is angling for a West End transfer, it will need something comparable.

It’s all very capably played, but Laurence Belcher (at 17) is really too old for Miles – he was in the Donmar’s revival of The Late Middle Classes in 2010, and would have been perfect for this then.

[Parsley]

What is your picture on your profile....it seems familiar....from a horror film??

[young offender]

Parsley, on 11 February 2013 - 11:41 AM, said:

What is your picture on your profile....it seems familiar....from a horror film??

Le Souffle au Coeur, Louis Malle film from the 1970s. I like his attitude.

[Parsley]

VG

I approve!

[Parsley]

This was very strange

Quite evil really I thought

But something missing overall

Audience ridiculous screaming and jumping about all over the place, squealing like piglets

Lovely staging but too much use of the revolve

It all fell apart towards the end

What I left with was the reminder how disturbing the novel is

[RedRose]

I fell asleep and then struggled to keep awake (after some people's squealings have woken me up) when I watched it last month - very disappointing!

[MrBarnaby]

I thought it was dreadful. Attenborough has ruined that theatre.

[dude-1981]

I liked it when someone appeared out of the dark suddenly.


(Well I liked it the first 10 times....)

[MrBarnaby]

I could clearly see the actor getting into position every time they did that... That'll be the white shirt he was wearing. Really clunky

[Coated peanut]

I thought it was decent enough fun for an £8 ticket, if I forked out real money I'd probably feel a bit more critical. The first half was pretty good, the second was getting a little same-y. I'm not entirely sure that transposing films onto stage is the most brilliant use of a theatre, though I quite liked Deathtrap.