Reader Reviews
Purge (Arcola, Inner London)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
| - | I must have seen another play. This is a two-star show at best. The play I sat through was overwrought, both in the acting, which verges on the unwatchable in a few of the performers and in the writing, which insists on repeating things the audience already knows over and over again. This leads to a overlong de-dramatisation of what is in reality a fascinating subject matter. This peaks with a leaden monologue whilst a man slowly dies from a gun shot wound that merely tells us what we already know. All the while willing the poor chap to expire or the woman cradling him save her monologue for a less pressing moment. But the majority of the flaws in this rest with the poor script and not the actors who manfully go about their work and do what they can. I think the reviewer here shows deference to the subject matter and confuses this with the art itself. The physical elements of the show are wild and ill-controlled and the opening, with it's gratuitous depiction of abuse, which would have been better served by being left to our imaginations rather then watching a breast be poked by a fake gun. I do sometimes wonder, when reviewers talk of thought-provoking, whether they read and engage with history and global politics at all, or merely wait for dramatisations of such moments to educate them. I'd advise getting out and about. - Craig McKay | 01 Mar 12 |
