This new play by Samuel Adamson is all about Pedro Almodovar and yet very little to do with the famous Spanish film director whose 1999 Oscar-winning film provides the plot, the title and the characters. Adamson has moved Barcelona, the setting for most of the story, much closer temperamentally to his own Southwark Fair, a recent hit at the National Theatre.
The events remain much the same: Manuela lives in Madrid with her teenage son Esteban, an aspiring writer. For a birthday treat, she takes him to see A Streetcar Named Desire starring Huma Rojo, an ageing actress he particularly admires, but he’s killed in a street accident while pursuing the diva for an autograph. Grief-stricken, Manuela returns to Barcelona to find the transsexual father Esteban never knew, whose name he shares and who is unaware of his existence. She meets again street characters from 18 years previously and gives motherly comfort, both to Huma, the actress who is touring as Blanche in the Tennessee Williams play, and to Rosa, a young nun pregnant by her own former lover, now known as Lola. Stated baldly in this way, the plot seems ludicrous and yet, in both film and play, it is gripping.
Adamson has picked up on Almodóvar’s celebration of female strength and amplified the importance of the maternal. But he has also injected an English acerbity. As a result, his version of All About My Mother is much funnier, edgier and more satirical than the film, and the chief beneficiary of the change in tone is Mark Gatiss (from The League of Gentlemen) as the man-woman Agrado. His front-of-cloth turns and the use of the theatrical curtain between scenes are of a piece with the role-playing theme: no one is straightforward and many of the players have consciously reinvented themselves.
Although there are other deaths, the play steers clear (perhaps too assiduously) of easy tears, but Huma’s closing quotation about the loss of a loved one from Blood Wedding is profoundly moving. Lorca returns us to the piece’s passionate Spanish roots.
Reappearances of the boy in spirit seem too literal. Agrado, for instance, breaks down explaining that the show cannot go on (Huma’s lesbian drug-addict lover, playing Stella, is incapable) and an appearance by Manuela’s lost son gives him strength. Studiously avoiding sentimentality elsewhere, Adamson seems to embrace it here. When Manuela plays Stella for a night, we do not need to be shown in physical form the source of her anguish.
Lesley Manville is excellent as Manuela: broken but capable, passionate but contained, a mother first, last and always. Diana Rigg elegantly embodies the star in danger of being diminished by her damaged lover, Nina, a part which, however, provides Charlotte Randle with limited opportunities. Joanne Froggatt is a vulnerable innocent Rosa, more child-like than her counterpart in the film, Penelope Cruz. Director Tom Cairns keeps the whole thing moving at - very nearly - movie pace, helped by Hildegard Bechtler’s adaptable set.
Adamson, fresh from reworking Shaw’s Saint Joan at the National, continues to surprise and charm. I look forward to his next play which, despite the rewards of adaptation in evidence here, I hope will spring entirely from his own fertile imagination.
- Heather Neill
Reader Reviews
Score
Comment
Date
Very enjoyable. While one or two of the supporting cast were weak, Lesley Maville, Diana Rigg and Mark Gatiss more than made up for it. A good show worth checking out. - Adroid Mortox
07 Nov 07
Revisiting a play is tricky because there cannot be the same level of surprise or impact but All About My Mother remains very impressive; funny and moving, often at the same time. I do now feel that the reappearance of Esteban is a bit clumsy and Joanne Froggatt's lack of timing threw away the funniest line in the whole play. One or two of the supporting performances are below par but Mark Gattis, Diana Rigg and Lesley Manville remain superb. - David Baxter
31 Oct 07
I was so very disappointed with this production-it lacked the pace and colour of the film and to be honest it seemed rather pointless-Almodovar did it so much better. The one exception was Mark Gatiss's performance which was worth the ticket price alone-hilarious-his was the one character I believed in. The rest just seemed so "stagey"-I didn't believe in the characters, it was just actors speaking their lines. I agree that Estaban's death was clunky and his constant re-appeareance annoying -it seemed only to give the actor a bit more stage time but served little dramatic purpose. At times the play was slow and dull-remarkable given the compelling story and characters. A brave attempt but a wasted opportunity. - Richard Kiddle
08 Oct 07
Excellent performances from Mark Gatiss, Diana Rigg and as always superb performance by Lesley Manville. The whole production was very well staged and stuck to the original film. The stage design worked very well and the changes between scenes were seamless. The rain scene particularly worked for my daughter and I. The rest of the cast worked very well - a really enjoyable evening in the theatre. - Claudia McKelvey
30 Sep 07
Excellent performances from Mark Gatiss, Diana Rigg and as always superb performance by Lesley Manville. The whole production was very well staged and stuck to the original film. The stage design worked very well and the changes between scenes were seamless. The rain scene particularly worked for my daughter and I. The rest of the cast worked very well - a really enjoyable evening in the theatre. - Claudia McKelvey
30 Sep 07
Are the three previous reviews from different Davids? Seems a bit suspicious - can they really be separate reviews from different ones who happened to see this production so close together. Or maybe 'David' has multiple personalities & each one has given their own reaction to the play.
I saw it in preview by the way & loved it. The three main actors, Lesley Manville, Diana Rigg & Mark Gatiss (above all) were all superb! - Scarlet
29 Sep 07
Awful in so very many ways. Poorly acted, only Diana Rigg brought any honesty to the part. Awful set, constant tedious histrionics, terrible pacing, bad dialogue and a bad adaptation (it made me miss an already flawed original film script). They made a mess of Esteban's death, and then the little fella just kept coming back for no reason. The final Blood Weddings rip off was lazy and obvious, but the fact that no one in England knows how to do Lorca (or indeed Tennesse Wlliams) without resorting to stereotype is inescapable. I don't remember anyone saying that Huma Rojo's Streetcar production is supposed to be a poor quality pastiche. Amateurish, the most incompetent thing I've seen on stage in London for ages, and it has competition. - David
28 Sep 07
Excellent. Funny and intensly moving. Beautifully staged with superb acting from everyone. I saw the matinee performance on Wednesday 26 September. - David
27 Sep 07
Excellent. Funny and intensly moving. Beautifully staged with superb acting from everyone. I saw the matinee performance on Wednesday 26 September. - David
27 Sep 07
The prevailing view seems to be that this is not a patch on Almodovar's original, but having not seen the film it is possible to judge this purely as a stage play and on those terms it is a huge success; in turn amusing, involving and occasionally very moving. The old adage is that cinema is a director's medium whilst theatre is for actors and the truth of that is proved here. Hildegard Bechtler's set is as imaginative as always with this superb designer but it is difficult to match the seamless shifting of time and place on screen. The cast choose not to match the flamboyance of some of Almodovar's films and there are particularly good performances from Mark Gatiss, Diana Rigg and Joanne Froggatt as a nun with problems Maria could never have imagined. Above all is Lesley Manville as Manuela giving the performance of the year so far. Samuel Adamson's adaptation might disappoint some fans of the original but for me it is one of the highlights of 2007. - David Baxter
13 Sep 07
Quite a poor adaptation of the original text. It did not distance itself enough from the source film, and in turn is just a poor carbon copy. The sets were clunky and cumbersome. The performances, were mediocre, but of course did the best they could with such a poor script. - ts
11 Sep 07
Saw this last night 3 Sep (with another excellent WOS outing!), and we all loved it. Five of us, ranging in age from 28 to 72, and we all came away moved and happy. Any play that can make me laugh out loud, then cry, then laugh again, has my vote. Lesley Manville had the largest part, and she didn't disappoint. She played probably the most "normal" part, with most of the others larger-than-life characters, but what fantastic characters they were. I have to disagree with rds about Mark Gatiss's acting, I loved watching him. And Diana Rigg was wonderful, you could see how much she enjoyed playing up the "diva-esque" side of her character, particularly early on. Joanne Froggatt was convincingly naive, and Eleanor Bron played her monster of a mother with undisguised relish. Full marks to Almodovar for coming up with a story that despite -- or in fact because of -- its outlandish characters, trumpeted the importance of maternal instincts and family, even if the "family" concerned is peopled by members that would be considered extremely "strange" by most of us. And Adamson's adaption works brilliantly, in my view, aided by many wonderful sets. Full marks to all concerned, and especially to Manville -- the evening belonged to her. - LDE
04 Sep 07
Well, I saw this in preview too on Aug 30th. I thought it was a superb production with stellar acting from Dame Diana and especially Mark Gatiss - he had me rolling in the aisles. Mr Spacey has nothing to worry about except the few technicalk hitches and clunking scenery changes but please don't change one particular piece of scenery which I want for my flat!
In preview it is 5 * and can only get better! One not to miss if one is a theatre-lover! Can't wait to see it again tomorrow! And, I am not an Almodovar fan! - Barry Clarke
02 Sep 07
Though not ready by the fourth preview, this is clearly a very good production of an excellent adaptation. Some of the smaller roles are weakly played, but Rigg and Manville are great and the cinematic sweep of the production makes the storytelling lucid and gripping. - Gareth James
31 Aug 07
I thought it was great considering it is still in previews. Spacey working the crowd in the foyer gave a personal touch - I didn't notice any pensive pacing! The performance was met with roars of laughter from start to finish. A difficult adaptation, well staged. Rigg upstaged almost everyone, with the exception of Manville. Morgan's performance was probably the weakest but having seen his potential in Vernon God Little, I am sure he will improve. - Streetcar
30 Aug 07
Mmhh! OK - it's still in preview, but I don't see this getting any better by opening night. Perhaps that is why a rather pensive Mr Spacey was pacing around at the back of the stalls just before curtain up last night? At times the acting was excruciatingly bad! Mark Gatiss certainly needs acting lessons. But, apart from him, what a cast Diana Rigg, Lesley Manville, Eleanor Bron, the newcomer Colin Morgan, whom I saw at the Young Vic recently and thought him one to watch out for, sadly not in this. It came from a film and should have stayed as a film. Clunky scene changes, and not because it's in preview, dire dialogue, and crude attempts at comedy, which left the audience for the most part nonplused. An usher said that previous performances had received a standing ovation?, cynically, I think that was to get to the exits more quickly!.
Come on - you can do better than this!. - rds
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