The Blue Room

Synopsis

Based on Arthur Schnitzler's play Reigen (filmed as La Ronde) which was first performed (to great scandal) in 1912. A bitter and comic assessment of love depicted through sexual liaisons in Vienna that cross social divides: prostitute/soldier, soldier/maid, maid/student etc. A two-hander in which each plays 5 parts. Premiered in 1998 at the Donmar Warehouse with Nicole Kidman. Please note that the production contains some nudity and strong language. Recommended for adults only.

Our Review:

7 June 2011

David Hare’s The Blue Room follows ten sexual encounters between ten couples in ten scenes. One character from each scene is in the next scene, so that A sleeps with B who sleeps with C who sleeps with ... until we get right back to A. There is no plot, as such, and we don’t follow any one character through more than two scenes. We don’t even know how long elapses between the scenes – it could be hours, or years.

What drives the play forward is the contrast between what a character says and does in the two scenes. As we watch one scene unfold we come to realise that the next is likely to invert what we think we know about each character. Sometimes this is conventional – it’s not such a step from the married politician lecturing his wife on how happy they are to him having drug-fuelled sex with a young and vulnerable model. And yet in the model’s next scene she has moments of genuine tendernes...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review