Reader Reviews
Cruel and Tender - Walkabout Season (The Young Vic, Inner London)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | I'm a rebel as I haven't given it 1star or 5stars. I could see what it was trying to do and liked the echoes of the classical drama but even the excellent acting couldn't make this coherent. We the audience had to work far too hard as the characters were unsympathetic and the motivations opaque. It also managed to seem both old fashioned and aggressively modern at once. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (193.118.206.221) | 03 Sep 04 |
| Awful. Wish I'd listened to all the naysayers below. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.244.178.30) | 08 Jul 04 |
| A fantastic peice of theatre. Utterly gripping and original. Best thing I've seen in a long while.... - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.93.34.14) | 26 Jun 04 |
| Cannot understand why anyone would be thrilled by this misbegotten mishmash. Incredibly it manages to be both OTT and mundane. I had to stifle so many unintentional laughs, I wondered if the director actually understood the language the play was being performed in. Obviously it is splitting audiences and seems to appeal mainly to youngsters who seem to like its in-yer-face style. I just hope everyone is giving generously to the Young Vic rebuilding fund as the theatre certainly deserves our support even though this play does not. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.43.171.8) | 20 May 04 |
| Utterly brilliant. From opening moments, harsh and compelling - up to the minute. Never thought Kerry Fox would stop my heart. I yearn for thought and content and here it was. My three friends all felt as I did. Maybe not to everyone's taste but certainly to mine. Bravo, indeed! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.49.186.66) | 19 May 04 |
| Martin Crimp has taken the strange and thoughtful Trachinian Women by Sophocles and beaten it flat into a dull piece of cardboard. And then stapled the Iraq War to it in all but name. Heracles becomes the un-named The General, commanding a war campaign in Africa. Deianeira becomes annoying drama queen Amelia, moping about in her den, accompanied by a nurse, a beautician and some exercise gear. The messengers become a couple of seedy spin doctors. Heracles being placed upon the pyre becomes The General going out to meet the Press. Do you get it? It's dull, cringe-inducing, mostly badly acted, very tedious and easily one of the worst things I've ever seen. How anyone, ANYONE, can give this more than one star is baffling beyond description. I'm aggrieved at not having the option to give it zero. Sorry to be so inarticulate, but this sorry mess doesn't deserve better. BACKDRIFTER - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.74.155.147) | 17 May 04 |
| Why is this review in the Regional section? Maybe because the production certainly is not up to an expected London standard. See Discussion - Oh, so Cruel...to us! Truly dire. It may suit anti-Iraq War hardliners who put their politics before their Theatrical judgement, but the absurd fiasco on the Young Vic stage shames their reputation. This is Carry On Propaganda for juveniles, oh so broad and too too long. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.43.171.8) | 14 May 04 |
| Truly awful. 2 hours of unrelenting boredom. The story is poorly told, the script weird, and the acting mostly poor. There is some entirely unnecessary nudity - if it had been the oriental nurse then I would have been thankful for small mercies, instead it was the General. I have never walked out of a play, but I almost did tonight. I am appalled I wasted a valuable Saturday night out with my family - I hope this saves someone else from making the same mistake. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.2.180.152) | 08 May 04 |
