I had high hopes for this production, and indeed the production values, and visuals, were effective. But for starters, making you walk DOWN into a Windows on the World recreation taxes your suspension of disbelief. Also, might I mention that it was in poor taste to 'become' a pretend restaurant patron who will, ahem, be dead in two hours. Instead of being dead, we are clapping and smiling in two hours. Tacky.
The actors were all exceptional, given the very uneven material. But some of the American accents were very uneven. Decade hired an accent coach. Clearly it worked for Charlotte Randle (3 different Brooklyn accents), Jonathan Bonicci, among others .But it appeared that no one worked with Claire Prempeh on accents. Her waitress character's accent (really, several different accents, ranging from African American Southern older woman, to young white Valley Girl) was absolutely abysmal. Absolutely embarrassing. An otherwise touching monologue by playwright Harrison David Rivers, on having a 9/11 birthday, was ruined by her meandering accent! I also don't understand why Harrison Rivers made his character say the words "01" as "aught one." Very few Americans say it that way -- it sounded like Prempeh said it the British way ("naught one"). I believe some African Americans in the south may say the word "aught', but I don't believe his written character was specifically meant to be African American -- and that certainly was not made clear by Prempeh's young white Valley Girl accent that permeated much of that piece. Her character as waitress was meant to bookend The Sentinels (9/11 widows) piece sprinkled throughout the show, by announcing 9/11 dates in different years. So this very important bookend was ruined, in my humble opinion, by Claire Prempeh's lack of American accent skills.
For a production in which many if not most of the playlets needed American accents, and given that this was about one of the most important tragedies in American modern history, it was a crying shame that Rupert Goold could not get it right and either hire actors with genuine North American accents, or make sure their accents were perfect. Shame on you, Decade. - Jeremy
07 Dec 11
After passing through the security scanner it is immediately necessary to suspend disbelief as you are "interrogated" by a US Immigration Officer who, in my case (Emma Fielding) seemed to have a remarkable knowledge of the current Health and Social Care Bill. You are then greeted by the restaurant hostess and have to pretend not to recognise her as Charlotte Randle and shown to a table in a brilliant recreation of the Windows On the World restaurant. Decade consists of playlets by around twenty different writers reflecting on the events of 9/11, the aftermath and the effects on survivors, families and others. Hardly surprisingly some are better than others and, without a playtext, it's difficult to be absolutely certain who is responsible for what. One of the best is right at the start concerning reactions to a Muslim running a small grocery in the shadow of the twin towers and Matthew Lopez contributes a strand running throughout the evening showing a reverse chronology of three widows meeting for annual mournful reunions. I particularly admired Mike Bartlett's imagined confrontation between a journalist and the soldier who shot Bin Laden but Ben Ellis' psoriatic speed-dater misfired completely. The small cast convey their large range of characters brilliantly and, as always with Rupert Goold, Decade is packed with extraordinary ideas and flourishes although the outbreaks of random dancing are less effective than in Earthquakes. . . Decade provided a remarkable evening of theatre but it didn't move me emotionally as much as I had expected until the final barrage of text messages from victims horribly aware of their fate, culminating in three men starkly framed in a window looking down on the wives they left behind. A remarkable closing image to an evening which will live long in the memory. - David Baxter
12 Oct 11
Really dull unimaginative setting and weak 'immigration screening' at the start followed by a really dull and unimaginative collection of Fringe standard playlets and super-clunky jigging about. Not funny or clever. - Coral
30 Sep 11
Great idea, high intensity, brilliant actors, but the material was lacking. I heard Tony Kushner was one of the writers; if true, I wonder why his playlet wasnt included.
I would have liked to see material with clearer reflections on British relationship with 9/11, and with 7/7. Tobias Menzies as real life Brit Scott Forbes who questions a power-down, was formidable. But a formulaic choreopoem about 7/7 and transportation was predictable.
Being set in NYC, the play attempted more than it should have by placing itself in Windows on the World. Why?
I wonder how many London-based American actors (there are many) they auditioned for this play. Because some American accents of this all-Brit cast were very uneven (Claire Prempeh in particular; but with hiccups in every 'New York' accent). Very much a shame, for a production attempting to talk about a huge historical event. - Jon
28 Sep 11
Had high hopes, but found Windows on the World set in poor taste.
Excellent choreography by Scott Ambler, with very able cast. Jonathan Bonnici was brilliant as seductionist/souvenir seller; Tobias Menzies measured and strong as Jonathan Forbes, a real British computer programmer; and Kevin Harvey as a Navy Seal who shot Bin Laden.
But American accents were shaky with some cast (Emma Fielding's NY widow accent, and Claire Prempeh's wandering waitress accent, most notably). The shakiness was unexcusable, given the nature of the historic event.
- Irene
28 Sep 11
This is by far the best piece of theatre that I've seen this year. Rupert Goold is so good at combining great writing, great acting, dance and music to create a piece of totally watchable theatre. This didn't seem like it had been written by a number of different writers, but seemed like a cohesive whole that examines the events and repercussions of 9/11 over the last 10 years. - Steve
25 Sep 11
The space is superbly theatrical. A large rectangular room with picture windows at both ends, restaurant booth seating on three sides & a bar on the fourth and a long elevated corridor on one side overlooking the main space, which contains an oval platform surrounded by tables and chairs. We’re in Windows on the World, a restaurant at the top the World Trade Centre, another one of Miriam Buether’s extraordinary designs and the most comfortable place I’ve ever seen ‘site-specific’ theatre!
A large number of ‘playlets’ take place (sequentially not concurrently!) on the platform, on tables, in booths, in the elevated corridor and on the floor. There’s a fair bit of ‘dance / movement’ between scenes (and sometimes part of them) with fine choreography from Scott Ambler. There’s a superb cast of 13 who play many more roles than that. In conception and execution, it’s all wonderfully theatrical. The trouble is the material…..
……..I was expecting interesting and objective responses to 9/11 from many perspectives, but what I got were some rather slight sketches, few of which said much on their own, let alone together. Regular visits to the annual meetings of 9/11 widows (backwards in time) provides the only link, but not enough was made of this clever device. Many were monologues whose dramatic inertness was amplified by the theatricality of the space and staging. It didn’t educate or enlighten me, it didn’t illuminate anything and it didn’t really entertain me.
I suspect the multiplicity of writers doesn’t help; six more than there are actors (look what three did for Greenland!), but the key issue for me is that it just isn’t bold enough. It seems to be hinting at and skirting over issues rather than tackling them head on. I admire the ambition, but the rewards are limited.
- Gareth James
17 Sep 11
Easily the best and most chilling piece of theatre I've ever seen. Incredible and incredible that it's on now. So up-to-date. Don't miss it. - John Hortins
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