Reader Reviews
Clever Dick (Hampstead Theatre, Inner London)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | Much too clever for its own good. Well not really,it's not really clever at all. Clever words & phrases but not a clever play. How I wish that I had joined the others & not returned after the interval. Three of us left & three stayed: I think that they had the best of it. What's good about it? Well it's short. It's not a play but a series of little set pieces which don't come out as a whole. It's like putting a bad stand-up on the large stage like the Oliver & expecting the stage & theatre to be filled, it was not. Do miss it. - 86.143.100.107) | 06 Jun 06 |
| I usually have difficulties with West End attempts at American accents and was again not disappointed. When will directors ever learn that Amercans do not EVER pronounce "been" as "I have BEAN to London," [or "It's BEAN soup" (sorry, couldn't resist.)] Instead the word is promounced "BIN" (as in "rubbish bin".) Quibbles aside, my disapointment with "Clever Dick" centered on the characterization of Dick Feynman. It did not, I feel, capture his essential brilliance or quirkiness (truth be told, insanity.) He was just a smart guy who couldn't tell left from right. Additionally, some of the split-second timing, so essential to farce, seemed a bit off and off-putting as well. Hopefully, this tightened up after the press-night performance I saw. The cast was, in general, laudable, with the exception of Miss Higham who seemed to me to be playing a generic ingenue. She gave no hint of her Southwestern roots -- either in speech or dress. If she had said she'd just gotten off the Chicago (or New York or Los Angeles) metro, I would not have been surprised. The set worked marvelously. If it was meant to convey a slight seediness it succeeded extremely well. My only problem is with the bed -- I doubt the motel would have had a king-size bed (at that point in time) but rather twins (probably separated by a night table. I know that this might spoil the "girl-in-the-bed" scene but it still grated. Not having read the script, I may be completely wrong on this one. All in all, one should by all means see the production if given a free ticket and one didn't have more pressing needs at the moment. - 67.112.120.38) | 06 Jun 06 |
