An unmitigated disaster, how could the so called 'professional' critics be so taken in? Not generally one for conspiracy theories, I have come to believe that, with the odd exception to try and fool us, there is a pact to praise NT productions in the press; the so called reviewer of the Sunday Times being a prime example. Rory Kinnear, in bad mop wig at the opening, goes into camp queen mode after whipping it off for his assumed personas - he's an actor I generally like so I'm going to blame the pathetic director/direction and presume he's just doing as he's told. I really agree with the comment below about the 'Ladybird Book of Raunchy Directing', simulated rape/bare bum/tits/unconvincing on-stage wank don't shock (or stimulate) these days but rather provoke yawns - grow up Ms Still. An evening the NT should be thoroughly ashamed of. - Kevin McD
14 Aug 08
Thomas Middleton is now accepted as the co-writer of Timon of Athens, which I saw yesterday, and has been revealed as the author of The Revenger's Tragedy. Comparing the two I can only assume that Shakespeare contributed to Timon on a bad day. Middleton has given us a thrilling mix of black humour, decadence, deadly sibling rivalry and grisly vengeance. Melly Still directs with immense vitality, helped by a, literally, startling sound design. It has been interesting watching Rory Kinnear develop from minor roles in Festen and Mary Stuart to a brilliant role in The Man of Mode. Here he is commanding and succeeds in keeping the audience in sympathy with a serial killer. Due to the logjam created by David Tennant and Jude Law it may be some time before we see Kinnear's promised Hamlet. It should be worth waiting for but in the meantime The Revenger's Tragedy is a superb example of the National at its' best. - David Baxter
06 Aug 08
Tragedy indeed! - NT fan
20 Jul 08
Kept me on the edge of my seat all night. All the actors worked flat out and kept the momentum going throughout. The set was fantastic; I've never seen the Olivier stage used so imaginatively. - Dee
19 Jul 08
Another missed opportunity from our beloved NT. What's going on there? I seriously think it is about time Mr Hytner did the honourable thing and buggered off and let some one else put in what should be a full time job instead of, as he does, sodding around at the likes of the Royal Opera House or where ever else his fancy takes him. OK! he has done some good things without a doubt, but there comes a time when one has to move over. I think that time has come. Melly Still's production of The Revenger's Tragey is an unmitigaed mess. Poor acting from some of the cast which at times borders on the amateurish, misguided and confused directing, employing all the tricks from the Ladybird Book of Raunchy Directing (please! enough of the simulated sex scenes - even the actors looked embarrassed) all to no avail. Bring back Peter Hall! - Well, no maybe not -but come on let's have a change of regime soon. - rds
16 Jul 08
Well what a mess of a play and really the worst of the Travelex season this year. Most of the time is spent dancing around and trying too hard to put over what is a excellent story. The friends I went with were totally confused by act one and I had to spend the interval explaining what was going on as the actors do not seem to be clear in their speech. So if you do go don't give up after the first half as it does get slightly better in act two. I did though love the music. - ILS
16 Jul 08
Well, 3.5 really. When you see plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries, it only serves to prove his genius. Middleton's play is crudely plotted with second-rate verse. Melly Still tries to make up for this with a production which incorporates movement and visual invention. The opening is thrilling (though nothing to do with the play!) but when it reverts to conventional drama the contrast makes it seem duller than it actually is. It zips along, particularly in the second half where the body count escalates to absurdly implausible proportions, and there are fine performances, but I left the theatre only partly satisfied. - Gareth James
05 Jul 08
What a mess. This is not a play but an overly designed dance piece. The text has all but gone with the undirected actors all singing from different sheets. More dumbing down from the National, in order to attract kids who don't want to be there. Please go back to what you know Ms Still, designing children's shows. One star for the poor actors. - joesmith
20 Jun 08
Melly Still has pulled out all the stops for this, and most of it works. The overall concept is a bit uneven: modernised, but in an unfocused way (men sporting spangly jackets, denims and ancient swords - you know the sort of thing) and some of the direction tries too hard and too self-consciously to shock; but like the spangly jackets, we've seen it all before.
It flies on at a cracking pace. The set is a real star, with the revolve working overtime as it switches between three high-walled partitioned spaces, and the staging is made even more vibrant by some outstanding lighting effects. It may only have been the second preview, but it already has loads of polish. A few tiny hiccups were neither here nor there. The music is magnificent - Adrian Sutton working in improbable tandem with some disco dudes. Melly Still extracts every possible ounce of dark humour from the play, and the verse speaking has terrific clarity.
I seem to be alone these days in not canonising Rory Kinnear, but for my taste he has always been too mannered and look-at-me in his acting style. His latest trick is to mimic Simon Russell Beale's Shakespearean delivery; he does so to unnerving effect in Vindice's early speeches, and I found it immensely distracting. Is it deliberate? Or is it just me? I'd be intrigued to learn if anyone else shares my reaction. He is rather better in his disguise as Piato, and I was better able to see the character beyond the actor once he'd got going on his mayhem.
A bigger concern was the overall campness of the production. Why, I wonder? I was just expecting Graham Norton to appear when lo, there he was - or, to be accurate, a lookee-likey (in costume at least) in no less a role than Lussurioso, the play's darkest villain. It all strikes me as a big misjudgement, because the overriding theme of The Revenger's Tragedy has to be the damage men inflict on women when their lust is given free rein. As it was I half expected Vindice to shout 'You could be Nancy' at any one of a dozen characters. - Job
06 Jun 08
I wouldn't recommend this play to anyone, it left me cold and the end couldn't come quick enough, but if there is an attractive ticket offer then take it up and see what you think. - Peter
06 Jun 08
I wouldn't recommend this play to anyone, it left me cold and the end couldn't come quick enough, but if there is an attractive ticket offer then take it up and see what you think. - Peter
06 Jun 08
Given that you can get a ticket for this show for £10, anybody under 40 should definitely go just for the experience. The "club" setting for a debased society is interesting but at times is just a detraction, at times just silly (very annoying dancing people crawling around the revolve). Having said that, the acting is of an excellent standard; the production is easy to follow and I was absolutely transfixed from beginning to end. Rory Kinnear and Jamie Parker were outstanding - bring on their Hamlet and Laertes. David Tennant and Jude Law beware. - Ada Doom
05 Jun 08
From its opening dumb show, and psychedelic meanderings through the confused visions of the (mis)director, to its slideshow projections of skulls with worms for tongues, this 'modern' version of a Jacobean bloodbath, seems to assume that the audience is so dull of wit that it will not comprehend the superbly delivered verse and prose of the actors working hard to make sense of the text (in spite of the director).
Rory Kinear makes light work of this heavyweight script and delivers his lines so that the meaning is crystal clear (without any need of any of the director's dumb shows). He proves to be a literal master of the art of disguise and comes as near as any actor could to investing his character Vindici with redeemable features that he doesn't possess. And as none of the other characters possess any redeemable features either (with the possible exception of the 'good woman' whose rape precipitates the actions of revenge) it comes as a blessed relief when they are all slain by a band of Scottish plaid wearing Evil Munchins (yes, the director had lost the plot completely by the end) wielding swords while doing a Highland Fling.
I can't be bothered to find the programme and give credit where it is due, which is, in the main to most of the actors, but the musicians are a bit of a waste of time (no offence to them) and the counter tenor is rather out of place out of time and out of joint (man - given the director's psychedelic fumblings).
If you haven't seen this Jacobean 'orgy of bloodletting' as the National theatre web site describes it, do go along, but close your eyes and listen to the words rather than watch. They are delivered so well you don't need to suffer the sights on stage to know what's going on, or down, or wherever.
But don't take my word for it, see what the critics have to say after opening night June 4. - Janette Marshall
