[An Enemy of the Circle]

Never have so many exited/entered so many times to achieve so little...


The Gud News - it’s only 3hrs long...The Bad News - it’s Not Raisin in The Sun!

Christ, where t’start...it’s staged in The Transverse, ‘cept it’s not as they’ve shoehorned seating in around the ends to! Imagine a mega length Catwalk, serving only as a walkway between 2 doors at either end of the enclosed dome which open/close with the subtlety of a drawbridge, every few seconds (over 50 times in the 1^st act).

Those seated at ends are forever looking over their shoulder...to see an endless procession of bits of furniture being brought on/taken off...it’s non bloody stop, they should’ve asked Pickfords to sponsor Act 1 – they’d had paid serious wonga!

As well as numerous wannabe removal men, there’s hordes of lost souls who drift by entering/exiting too, played by a collection of drama students, etc –displaying the physical subtlies of Cybermen.

The hero (Winston) is ok, but dynamically forgettable; Julia, his love interest is frankly rank amateur – with the vocal variation of a 1920s Kentucky Derby commentator (crossed with a touch of 50’s Jolly Hockey Sticks) to boot - the pair have the chemistry of Charles & Diana.

The whole first act performance feels sub std, too many things are lowered down from above, the crowd scenes are feebly unconvincing (light years better at the Crucible’s Ibsen), Big Brother’s vocals are dull and the constant coming and going by stage crew, etc distracts massively for no seeming gain (feng shui?)...it was more fun picking out the ‘snoozers’.

Act 2 is better, because there’s less coming/going – there is the 17 min speech mentioned by all reviewers as being 'testing for the audience'...the torture room is the most impressive bit of set and the electric chair works well, the truncheon battering less so (ecky thump-esque)

Some are loving this, others less so, so you pays yr money and take yr pain/pleasure, I thought last yrs Xmas BAC effort was better and that barely caused ripples of praise (2.5).

I stayed to the end in the same way I did when I recently saw the 100% slated Wolfman at the piccies, to say I saw it!

2/5

[Laughingmonsta]

Have to say you are being very fare with you 2/5 it wouldnt have even got that from me!!!

[An Enemy of the Circle]

Well my regular companion was shocked I volunteered to stay for Act 2!

I take yr point, but in my book 2/5 = rubbish/not worth seeing. For something to rate less than means that it was devoid of any talent, creativity or meaningful effort. This certainly had plenty of creativity, misguided and flawed, but present nonetheless.

Where it does stink is the quality of cast - I felt short changed by a lot of the supposed pro main cast and especially by the masses of students - Blakes 7 was better acted. Couldn't believe the casting of Julia. Given this the Crowd scenes were always gonna fail.

What's worse is the 2 x 4 star reviews (tho Hickling's a pratt 50% of the time and Lynne Walker can't be trusted). It got a rough ride from Chaderton at BTG, but even he said the performances were ok?!?

Sometimes you just wonder...

[An Enemy of the Circle]

...and what's with all that 'not being able to buy a drink 15m before the 4pm start 'cos they're taking Interval Orders'?????

They bleedin' weren't, well not the bar chap I spoke to!?!

I almost said it's a bit presumptuous to assume we'll be staying after HT...

Sort it out

0/5 for Bar Operation

[JonnyBoy]

Oh dear, not very encouraging posts. And I was so tempted by this play as I loved the book. Seen several positive press reviews though so might yet plump for some banquettes.