Reader Reviews
The Contingency Plan - Resilience/On the Beach (The Bush Theatre, Inner London)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | I felt I was watching an succession of impressions. David Brent and Alison Steadman with a spitting Image Scotsman thrown in for good/bad measure. The dialogue was tedious and going nowhere. What is the point I kept thinking? Fortunately I was relieved of having to sit through the second act due to the indisposition of one of the cast members ..... perhaps they'd had enough of it too? The Bush well off form. - rds | 19 Feb 10 |
| On The Beach is even better than Resilience (review below). There's still a touch too much implausibility, but seen alongside the other play there's a satisfying roundedness to the story, both political and personal. The first half of this play is a prequel to Resilience and the second half runs concurrently with the second half of the other play. At first I thought I'd seen them the wrong way round (Resilience first) but at the end I was glad I saw that first - though I'm not sure it matters that much! A fine achievement for The Bush. - Gareth James | 04 Jun 09 |
| I didn't realise the two plays should be reviewed together - my silly mistake - and so the point I made here regarding Hunstanton is in fact resolved in the second play - which for me was On The Beach. I'll refrain from explaining why as it is key to a lot of what happens. Like Resilience, the acting in this play is absolutely superb, Susan Brown in particularly giving a powerful and moving performance as Jenny, the stoical wife, who finally gives up everything for husband Robin, played with crazed passion by Robin Soans - a terrific performance too. The story line is too absurd, but never the less, once the disbelief is suspended, makes for a ripping yarn. Could it transfer as two plays, hard to say? But it would not be for the lack of an audience, I'd bet money on that. - rds | 26 May 09 |
| The Bush auditorium has changed shape again, and to good effect, for this gripping if somewhat ludicrous tale of government misunderstanding and mishandling of the consequences of climate change. It starts off well enough, belief suspended at the cartoonish nature of the characters, but sinks into absurdity thereafter. Point: Why did Will's father, a once eminent but now discredited scientist, who predicted the coming cataclysm, chose to live in, of all places, bloody Hunstanton? Did he think he was King Canute! OK, a small point perhaps, but with so many espoused from these headless chickens I left the play praying that it's only expense claims that Ministers are totally incompetent at. It was like watching one of those American disaster movies, but with plummy British accents. Five stars for the acting though, but marked down by the story line. - rds | 23 May 09 |
| Resilience plays out the issues of climate as a political thriller very effectively, though it takes a few inconceivable and contrived turns in order to do so. After a slow start, I found myself surprisingly gripped, helped by great staging in-the-round and an exceptional cast. A long-awaited return to form for the Bush. - Gareth James | 14 May 09 |
