Highly talented Mike Bartlett’s last play at the Royal Court, My Child, was designed with lavish indulgence in a tube train compartment-cum-coffee-house in a segment of the downstairs area.
The same designer, Miriam Buether, has now turned the Upstairs studio into a mini wooden cockpit, seating just ninety customers, to watch Bartlett’s cunning, intense contest – yes, it’s another tug-of-love – for the affection of whippety, sexually conflicted John.
The play’s sold out because John is played by Ben Whishaw who, apart from starring as John Keats in the new Jane Campion movie, has rapidly compiled a portfolio of daring theatre work as an Old Vic Hamlet and in notable plays by Philip Ridley and collaborations with Katie Mitchell.
And maybe the title, too, is a draw in some (hind) quarters. But this show is not what it says on the tin, and certainly not a load of old whatsit, either.
Director James Macdonald is very good at making transparent surfaces of dialogue ripple and glint with danger, and Wishaw and his dominant lover, labelled just M, but no Bond man, is played with matching brilliance by quick-as-a-flash Andrew Scott. Their opening joust is a joy to behold.
John meets a girl, W, an attractive singleton who says he looks like a pencil drawing and needs colouring in. Katherine Parkinson makes this sound funny and touching, not daft, and totally belies John’s description of her to the seething M as a hirsute manly creature from the black lagoon.
Women are like water when a man wants beer, says John, struggling to understand his own sexuality but relieved to find someone who doesn’t needle or belittle him. His naked dance of coition with W is genuinely sexy without a finger lifted or a garment removed.
It’s all a tough fought battle, especially when M makes it a foursome by asking round his Dad (the totally filled-in Paul Jesson - no line-drawing, he - who makes stodginess a virtue) for dinner.
Performed without furniture or props on small green disc in this Ikea-like wooden O, the play’s a small diamond, and Whishaw wrings more angst and confusion out of the role than he did from his own too pubescent Dane.
The Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs has been turned into a bear pit, with seating in the round on three rows, which makes for a voyeuristic and intense experience for both actors and audience. There are no props, just four actors in pairs, a threesome and a foursome who stand and move and talk. The play centres around John, onstage throughout, and his two relationships and sexual confusion. The dialogue sparkles and there is much psychological depth to the characters, though they are occasionally irritating - sitting in the front row, I had to resist the temptation to stand up and shake one and tell him / her to get over it / move on / get real...... I've admired Ben Willshaw on TV but I missed his much talked about Hamlet and haven't since caught up with him on stage (except in one of Katie Mitchell's pretentious pieces at the NT before I gave up on her, which doesn't count!) so this was a real revelation for me. I can't remember the last time I found a performance so captivating or an actor with so much charisma; he's electrifying - now I can't wait to see him again. There's also a fine cameo from Paul Jesson, an actor I've long admired. This is a highly original and enthralling play. - EtwasZuTun
18 Dec 09
VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, GOOD. - joesmith
27 Nov 09
Absolutely wonderful: the best play about relationships since Closer. It is also one of the best acted pieces of theatre in London at the moment. This quartet simply never hit a false note in James Macdonald's assured production: Ben Whishaw and Paul Jesson are well established and predictably superb, while as the central character's two lovers, Katherine Parkinson and Andrew Scott are even better: two of this country's finest up-and-coming young actors. This is unmissable, and worth queueing to see. - ajh
25 Nov 09
Cracking performances from the cast, in particular, Andrew Scott and the lovely Ben Whishaw. The dialogue fizzed and crackled, as our bums got increasingly sore on the IKEA-style 'boxer ring' seating and, as it developed, it was riveting to watch. And yes, no set, no props - and it needed neither. On the negative side, I could have done without the elderly blimp opposite me, who rustled his Nicorette gum packeting during half the performance, blithely unaware of how distracting it was. Where do these idiots come from? - Andrew B
24 Nov 09
Stunning performances from the three main protagonists M, Andrew Scott, John, Ben Whishaw and W, Katherine Parkinson, all riveting in their own way. If one were to single a performance it has to be the hypnotic Andrew Scott. I've been lucky enough to have seen him before in The Vertical Hour in NYC, Aristocrats at the NT and Roaring Trade at The Soho and in each case he brought something very special to his performances. He has to be careful though otherwise that off-beat eccentricity he portrays may become somewhat clichéd, but for now one can only revel in it. The whole ensemble worked beautifully together within this somewhat implausible plot, but hey, whatever. Imaginatively staged the designer, Miriam Bluether, has created a mini Greek theatre or is it really a cockpit? Somewhat uncomfortable to sit in it still couldn't impede the 1.45mins of James MacDonald's skillful direction. Mike Bartlett shows himself to be a writer to be reckoned with. 10/10 - rds
24 Nov 09
For the first 5 minutes I found the lack of props/set/even miming actions strange but after that the performances from the actors engaged me so much I didn't even notice.John and W's onstage sexual encounter was one of the hottest things I've seen on stage but it was Andrew Scott's M I found I really couldn't look away from. - Sarah
24 Nov 09
Contractions was Mike Bartlett's last play at the Royal Court - June 2008. - EtwasZuTun
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