Posted 13 November 2009 - 09:08 AM
I saw last night's preview and was very underwhelmed. There were good things: I liked the story and the ideas behind it, some of the production visuals were really nice, and at first I thought it was promising. But it all rapidly slipped away. Some of the movement was pretty bad, although that could be buffed up as the previews continue. Ditto the fact that many of the cast weren't projecting very well, and I was at the front.
The songs were mostly terrible - sub-Jesus Christ Superstar, if you can imagine that. I half-expected them to launch into "No you're wrong, you're very wrong". Some of the actual music was good and I reckon they should have had the live band there to play some music and lend a bit of texture but dispense with the songs, which added nothing except embarrassment.
But for me, the main problems lay with Ravenhill's adaptation. It's disjointed, underpowered and doesn't flow well. I wondered if it's going to come across better to anyone who's read the novel. Some passages which should be hugely dramatic and moving seemed oddly drained of any emotion. Ultimately I found it unengaging. It's a pity, as I said I can see there's an interesting story there, so maybe I should just pick up the novel.
I hope that some of the things that bothered me can be smoothed out before press night.
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