No one can doubt the quality of the acting, the staging or the writing with this play. Edward Albee's masterpiece gets a brilliant revival in this Almeida production - a very dark piece indeed which at times left me wondering what it was actually about? What is in no doubt, is the quality of this production - the set is excellent and lends itself to the darkness of the play. The acting is top notch. Tim Piggott Smith rises to the occasion as do Penelope Wilton (almost unrecogniseable) and the always excellent Imelda Staunton. Stella casting indeed with strong support. Whilst I still question what the play is all about, the quality, especially in the acting, is beyond doubt. - Paul Wallis
26 Jun 11
Tim Piggott-Smith really excels in a role where he has to define just how much he really cares about his lifelong friend. Imelda Staunton is knowing and hilarious as his drunken sister-in-law. Penelope Wilton is pitch perfect as his wife, a woman who maintains control over the household through repressing her emotions. Only Lucy Cohu is slightly miscast, as despite her stirling effort, she is simply too intelligent, graceful and composed a human being to fully embody such a flighty selfish entitled tantrum merchant of a character. The play echoes Beckett and Bunuel in having characters trapped in a place for inexplicable reasons: what is the "fear" that forces the lifelong friends to demand to stay in Julia's room, and even if they are afraid, why do they not offer Julia use of their own empty house - but the play is not about the practicalities of life, it's about whether we care for people, and who those people are. And on those terms, it's actually a work of confounding and affecting genius. - Steve
26 Jun 11
After three hours of Edward Albee's sardonic, witth but frequently labyrynthine dialogue I was at a loss as to what A Delicate Balance was about. The relationships between Tobias and Agnes, her alcoholic sister and their four-times married daughter were just about plausible and their is an underscurrent of tragedy over the early death of a son. However, the interpolation of another couple, apparently too frightened of some unidentified terror to remain in their own home stretched credulity too far. There are a couple of meltdowns but they felt more like artificial set-pieces rather than believable character development. The acting is as exceptional as you would expect at the Almeida, particularly from an almost unrecognisable Penelope Wilton, but I couldn't help wishing that Julia had followed through with her threat to shoot the whole complacent lot of them and put us all out of our misery. - David Baxter
23 Jun 11
Sensational!! Penelope Wilton leads an almost perfect cast. My only problem was Imelda Staunton's Clare. Wilton is undoubtedly the finest actress on the English stage. She inhabits her characters so perfectly and express such subtle nuances of speech, posture and looks that she mesmerises an audience. Tim Pigott-Smith captured the sense of loss which Tobias tries to evade but which only catch up with him in the end. Lucy Cohu pulled off Julia's breakdown scene, a very tricky act to do, brilliantly. One of the great plays of the 20th Century. The Almeida at it's best. - rds
04 Jun 11
Why on earth was everybody except Imelda Staunton speaking so slowly? It was painful. Some of the cast seemed to be working so hard at their accents that any resemblance to actual speech patterns was lost. An interminable night, a good play spoiled. - Lu C
31 May 11
When I booked Ecstasy for the night before this, I wasn’t at all conscious of what I was doing. Chalk & cheese.
Like Pinter, Edward Albee has always been a bit of a problem playwright for me. Where Pinter has too much silence, Albee has too many words! His plays usually have smug characters, glib dialogue and a cynical veneer. I find it impossible to empathise with any of them.
By the time I got to the first interval, I was thinking ‘here we go again; I hate these people!’ Is this an American Knot of the Heart? (the Almeida’s last play, which drove me to drink at the interval, after which I couldn’t bring myself to return).
Agnes and Tobias seem to be going through the motions of life in late middle age, with Agnes’ alcoholic spinster sister providing some conflict and confrontation. Over one weekend, their lives are turned upside down when they are invaded by best friends Harry and Edna (who move in because they are afraid of being at home alone!) and daughter Julia, a thirty-something spoilt brat who has given up on her fourth marriage and comes home. These people, particularly Agnes, speak lines with a quick-wittedness and articulacy that is very implausible – could anyone really think and say all of that spontaneously?
Something compelled me to return after that first interval and in the second and third act things did improve as the drama unfolded, but it’s still people you can’t give a shit about spouting implausible bollocks in unbelievable situations….but it does intrigue and hold you and it does makes you think.
It has not one but two national treasures in the cast – Penelope Wilton & Imelda Staunton – and they are both excellent in roles you wouldn’t usually consider them suitable for. Tim Pigott-Smith, Diana Hardcastle and Ian McElhinney also shine as the other oldies, though Lucy Cohu seems a little uncomfortable throwing adult tantrums. Laura Hopkins set is an extraordinary wood-paneled living room that, as a 60′s upper middle class New England home, is the most believable thing about the evening. James Macdonald’s direction is of his usual high standard.
There’s an intellectual pomposity about it which annoyed me, and it didn’t move me one bit, but it did hold and intrigue me for nigh on three hours. Having said that, when compared with last night’s British social realism, I’m afraid there’s no contest – Ecstasy wins hands down because Leigh has humanity where Albee has disdain.
The Almeida’s next-but-one play is yet another Neil LaBute – the natural successor to Albee, in my view. I’ll have to go of course….. - Gareth James
18 May 11
Truly amazing production exposing the play's genius. The acting and direction are simply the best thing you'll see in London....or perhaps the world. - Faz
16 May 11
I must have been watching a different play. A truly thought provoking and wonderfully layered script, coupled with an amazing cast and a delicate and skillful staging by James Macdonald. I was debating this for hours afterwards, a mark of truly great theatre. There are some wondorous moments in here that sit between hilarity and true tragedy. Every moment takes you on a psychological bending road. Penelope Wilton is mesmerising, I could watch her for hours. Imelda Staunton is a joy, Tim Piggot Smith solidly truthful, the rest of the cast equally brilliant. A joyous evening that I wont forget in a hurry! - Man
14 May 11
This play was a masterclass in tedium. Promised much but delivered nothing. - MP
13 May 11
I love theatre and the way two people can react so differently to the same thing but I personally thought this way below par! In Act I the whole cast spoke their lines so S L O W L Y they felt like they were somehow covered in treacle. Ms Wilton was by no means on top of hers fluffing quite a few of them and, sorry, this woman (as played) was much more Sear & Roebuck than Neeman Marcus. Imelda Staunton was OK but the characters descent into 'yehaw' in Act II didn't sit will at all. Finally, and I hate to be so negative, Ms Cohu being directed to play Julia as an ear-spliting, screaming banshee was jsu plain wrong. The Almeida is one of my favourite venues but a real miss for me. - KJ
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