Reader Reviews
The Breath of Life (Haymarket, Theatre Royal, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | People who dislike this play are betraying their own stupidity in not understanding its subtleties. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.254.64.5) | 16 Mar 03 |
| David Hare has always been an annoyingly uneven writer - a gem is lilkely to be followed by a dud (eg the wonderful "Skylight" by the leaden "Amy's View") but even the presence of the hardworking Dames Dench & Smith cannot redeem what is by some considerable distance his feeblest play - empty, pompous and vacuous, two tedious hours in the company of a windbag desperately in love with the sound of his own voice and oblivious to the need for such banalities as story, character, plot, structure etc. There is intelligence, sure, and there are a few good jokes, but there are also acres of windy rhetoric. Characterisation is negligible, the emotions largely synthetic, and the rhetorical devices - such as saying everything three times, saying it three times,really, saying it a third time for that added eloquence - simply a tiresome habit. Really shockingly poor, and in a fringe venue with a non-starry cast this piece would have disappeared without trace. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.135.14.210) | 12 Feb 03 |
| Unbeatable performances in a gripping play, making what must be the theatre event of the year. Dench and Smith really shone - I couldn't help but be wowed by this production. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.1.18.157) | 11 Jan 03 |
| Great cast, shame about the play. Rarely have I sat through anything so mind-numbingly boring. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.217.253.5) | 24 Dec 02 |
| The Dames did not do themselves any favours by doing this play - except maybe a nice Christmas bonus for the pension fund - as it was a poor play, not fully realised. Like visiting a museum. And the Haymarket, oh dear, playwrights now write small stuff for intimate venues and the big theatres should stick to musicals. This production with its stars and a team to die for just did not deliver. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (194.117.133.118) | 09 Dec 02 |
| DO NOT MISS THIS PRODUCTION and your chance to see two of the greatest living actresses (Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench) together. I saw it Monday Nov. 4 and it was one of the most thrilling theatrical experiences ever.GO !!! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (205.188.209.78) | 06 Nov 02 |
| Very disappointing play - it ended without having really said anything innovative or intersting. But Judi and Maggie were great - even if they could do these roles with their eyes closed! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.189.217.70) | 06 Nov 02 |
| I'm sorry to say that I was very disappointed in the play and I think Terri's review on here is fairly accurate. Listening to two women go on and on and on about a fella who was obviously an utter a**hole really wasn't that interesting. I felt so disappointed that this was the material the two Dames had to work with. I'm afraid I didn't see anything deep or multi-layered about it-they both went out with a guy and got dumped for a younger model. No conclusions of any kind were reached and I couldn't see what the play was trying to say. Judi seemed to be struggling with her throat on Friday sadly. Maggie Smith was terrific, but she did have the much better part - I'd like to see her in something more meaty. They could have done a performance of the song "I know him so well" ala Elaine Paige/Barbara Dickson-as this basically was the theme of the play. Sure, there was the odd moment about civil rights and some anti-american comments, but the main thrust of the play seemed to be an almost soap opera style plot that went nowhere. I'd have to agree with Lee on this one. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (194.117.133.118) | 28 Oct 02 |
| One could wait a lifetime to see such a pairing on the stage. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 25 Oct 02 |
| 'The Breath of Life' is a flabbergastingly good play - I've rarely seen a new play reach for so much. On the surface it concerns two women meeting who have earlier in their lives shared the same man, but this is not what the play is about; almost effortlessly, David Hare uses this scenario to look at our need to salvage and repair, our need to communicate, and how we communicate - and when we talk, whether we're actually conversing or not, how much what we do is about the self and how much is about others, and the point of fiction, the use of fiction, what 'truth' actually subsists of...it's so superloaded. And for such an exquisite, beautiful and sad play to be articulated by not only two astonishingly balanced actors but by an amazing director and perfectly complimenting design, you get - or at least I got - even more than one would have anticipated from this high-profile production. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 22 Oct 02 |
| Fantastic performances ... but there again who could expect anything but that from the Dames? It was just a shame about the play ... very weak. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 17 Oct 02 |
| Could any play live up to the fevered anticipation of seeing these two great ladies on stage together? Well, yes, but "The Breath of Life" isn't among them. While it has amusing and touching moments, Hare's drama is bland and uninteresting. Luckily, his leading ladies are masters of distraction and must, as always, be seen. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 16 Oct 02 |
| Bravo to Judi and Maggie for being brave enough to appear alongside each other - and to be generous enough to allow each other to shine! It helps that they also have a fantastic script to perform. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 16 Oct 02 |
| one of the year's best -- a play of maturity, wisdom and insight -- and performed to perfection by the two dazzling Dames. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 16 Oct 02 |
| I fund that all of the pleasure of the evening is in seeing the two actresses together and in Maggie's Smith's deivery of some very witty lines.. Other than that I thought it a dissapointingly thin play without anything original to say.. It ultimatly goes nowhere and I left feeling "what could have been" Lee. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 16 Oct 02 |
| So, we have the great dames together but it is shame that they are let down by such a weak play. More an excuse for the two characters to take it in turns bemoaning their life, although they do it oh so well - esp. Maggie Smith - loved her rant against Americans. Admittedly I saw the first preview (or the last dress rehearsal?) but I don't think that this will change the fact that the play doesn't and won't live up to expectations. A_G - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 08 Oct 02 |
| Very enjoyable. I went along, wondering who would upstage who, and I must admit that Maggie Smith has the best lines. It's well worth paying £2.00 to buy the playtext just to re-read them! It may be just me, but I lost the plot occasionally but found my way back. Despite the usual distractions - Cougher's Union and idiots behind me with their sweet wrappers - it was a real event and it's great to see the two Dames on stage together, the first time since 1959! Andrew B - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 08 Oct 02 |
