LONDON TRIP REVIEWS

Nov 97

Closer was my favorite. Yes, the language is "rough," or however one characterizes it, but it was never gratuitously offensive. It's a shocking play, quite mesmerizing, and far better than Marber's "Dealer's Choice," which bored me when we saw it here (NYC).

A close second was A Letter of Resignation, such a literate, intelligent, absorbing, well-acted and wonderfully old-fashioned play. So different from the resolutely modern and somewhat shocking "Closer." In combination they say a lot about the breadth and brilliance of London theatre.

I saw Art last year with its first cast, and was so dazzled by Tom Courtenay's performance that I wondered afterwards if I really liked the play or if it was the acting that was so great. So I decided to see it again, thinking that if it was as good with the fourth cast as with the first then it was, indeed, a good play. And it was. In fact I think I enjoyed the play itself more this time since I didn't concentrate quite so much on the actors. From what I can tell of the audiences both times, I don't think it would do well in America. And I've heard rumors that it is to be a movie, which would be a disaster, since I think it needs the monochromatic staging to emphasize the ideas. (Whereas "Closer" could easily be opened up and would make a fabulous movie.)

Electra, , is a compelling performance and I wouldn't have missed it. (That evening I went to Old Vic to see "Waste," but 20 minutes after it was due to begin the manager came out to announce that the male lead was ill, and that a substitute would read his lines with a script. I opted to get a refund since I've found that kind of thing typically doesn't work.)

Like everyone else, I believe Maggie Smith can do no wrong, so I hoped that A Delicate Balance would be better in London than it was here 2 seasons ago. But despite her brilliance and the wonderful acting of Eileen Atkins, I still detest this play.

I also saw Waiting for Godot, and thought it was well done. Chips with Everything had one sensational scene, but I had trouble understanding some of the accents, so when the plot took a particular turn, I was unprepared for it and didn't understand it.

The only real clunker I saw was The Reckless are Dying Out, which was painfully awful--a ridiculous script acted very badly.

Laury Epstein
Email : Leotah@aol.com