Reader Reviews
Faces in the Crowd (Royal Court - Jerwood Theatre, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | I can only assume RDS saw a different play to the one I witnessed. To say that the acting in this remarkable production was unconvincing is ludicrous. Both Con O'Neill and Amanda Drew give superb performances, with O'Neill' once again, proving himself to be on the very top of his game. The script was tight and moving and the production brave and disturbing. I applaud the Royal Court for staging this fierce new play. - Robert Smith | 20 Nov 08 |
| What a let down. I agree almost totally with Joesmith's remarks, except for the acting. I haven't seen two actors appear so unconvincing as these two for a long while. And perlease the shagging scene was just excruciating. The staging is done so that the we look down into the set from above. This works well in the scene where the actors slug it out verbally and physically, like a bear pit, but that was about it. Dire dialogue made this 90 minutes feel like 90 hours. A rotten effort! - rds | 04 Nov 08 |
| I've seen this twice now because the raw emotion is amazing. Both actors are brilliant but Con O'Neill is breathtaking. - Amanda | 03 Nov 08 |
| I only meant to give it two stars. This system is really dodgy WOS. - joesmith | 24 Oct 08 |
| Sorry don't agree. The set idea is a straight lift from 'The Emperor Jones' when it was at the Gate but without any of the inventive use made of it there. The writing is little better than TV soap and the clunky direction(feels like a student production), applies endless meaningful pauses which only prolong the agony. The actors are indeed brillinat and perform well beyond the call of duty. After the disgrace of 'I'll be the Devil' last year,I think we deserved a LOT better than this. - joesmith | 24 Oct 08 |
| In this production the Royal Court has forgone audience numbers in favour of a unique theatrical experience: we gaze down on the protagonists who are like rats in a box, which is the male character's tiny flat of which he is so proud; and nothing is spared, no off stage sigh or sign of distress. The theme is a timely calling of attention to the vacuous materialism and skewed values which Thatcher heralded and Blair prolonged. The bravura performances are heroic. - kilburncat | 23 Oct 08 |
