Rocket to the Moon

Synopsis

Stunning, stockingless, ruthless in her youth, Cleo Singer arrives in Ben Stark’s dental practice and turns his married, humdrum world upside down. She promises passion, escape, if only he knew how. But Stark is not alone in his frustrated dreams and in those stifling, shared offices there’s rivalry over a woman discovering life, a woman who’s hungry for expression and for love. And she’s no pushover, she’s looking for the real deal. Why don’t you suddenly ride away, an airplane, a boat! Take a rocket to the moon! Explode! Written in 1938 by Clifford Odets, the American master of dazzling, acerbic New York repartee, Rocket to the Moon puts opportunity in the way of a quietly desperate man and waits. None of you can give me what I’m looking for: a whole full world, with all the trimmings!

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 30 March 2011

The middle-aged dentist in Clifford Odets’ Rocket to the Moon is brought up sharp by a visiting entrepreneur: “Years of dentistry have gone to your head.” The man’s touching 40, and his life is going nowhere. Or wasn’t, until the new secretary turned up.

Ben Stark (Joseph Millson) has been married for ten years to Belle (Keeley Hawes). They lost a baby and have been squabbling ever since. Her father, Mr Prince (Nicholas Woodeson), wealthy and widowed, with a penchant for Heifetz playing the violin, calls by to add insults to injury, and tops that by trying to date the delectable Cleo Singer (Jessica Raine), who has fallen for the boss.

It’s New York in 1938, it’s summer, and it’s very hot, though you wouldn’t know any of those things from Angus Jackson’s torpid production. The American accents are so dreadful you wonder why they didn’t just set the whole thing in Wycombe and be done with it. The dental surgery designed by Anthony Ward has a mea...

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Latest User Review

sc - 8 June 2011:

Couldn't agree less with Michael Coveney's review. The set was really the only thing worth looking at, and the play itself is turgid. The acting was acceptable, if rather overblown - perhaps the actors were trying to compensate for the lack of interest in their dialogue. I was tempted to leave at half time (something I have never done) but persevered, hoping for an improvement. It did not happen. After the highly enjoyable 'Country Girl' last year, this was a huge disappointment....

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