Speaking in tongues
So yesterday I went down to London again and saw the play Speaking in Tongues at the Duke of York's Theatre, featuring the very lovely John "I was in Doctor Who, being The Master" Simm.
So, I've seen Simm in the West End before, at another small theatre, the Trafalgar Studios, in a play called Elling, where he was the star. This was a very different part, but he was still incredibly likable.
It was a true four hander. Each actor plays at least two roles and the two men played different accents so you know who's who. The first half was extremely "Qwha?" Basically it was two scenes with two different couples in two different bedrooms, but played in the same physical space with the dialogue overlapping. Interesting technique, but quite hard to concentrate for any length of time. After that the action split up into normal scenes, with the characters only talking one at a time (sort of) but still a little confusingly. Don't get me wrong, it's an incredibly intriguing play, but I was left a little bit feeling like the end was a bit of a cop out. Like they threw it away a tiny bit. Maybe they should have ended five minutes earlier and not had the bit of video. Everyone's so obsessed with arty multi-media video projection these days.
Anyway, the most interesting thing about it was the cast. It had him who played Quirrell in Harry Potter (and the photographer in Dirt). The New Zealand Bint from Shallow Grave. And the one who played Captain Jack's annoying daughter in Torchwood.
So, bloody EXCELLENT cast. To be honest, it felt that the actors were better than the material though. Shame. I would recommend it though. It's really intriguing.
Still... looking forward to seeing Inherit The Wind with Kevin Spacey next week.
So, I've seen Simm in the West End before, at another small theatre, the Trafalgar Studios, in a play called Elling, where he was the star. This was a very different part, but he was still incredibly likable.
It was a true four hander. Each actor plays at least two roles and the two men played different accents so you know who's who. The first half was extremely "Qwha?" Basically it was two scenes with two different couples in two different bedrooms, but played in the same physical space with the dialogue overlapping. Interesting technique, but quite hard to concentrate for any length of time. After that the action split up into normal scenes, with the characters only talking one at a time (sort of) but still a little confusingly. Don't get me wrong, it's an incredibly intriguing play, but I was left a little bit feeling like the end was a bit of a cop out. Like they threw it away a tiny bit. Maybe they should have ended five minutes earlier and not had the bit of video. Everyone's so obsessed with arty multi-media video projection these days.
Anyway, the most interesting thing about it was the cast. It had him who played Quirrell in Harry Potter (and the photographer in Dirt). The New Zealand Bint from Shallow Grave. And the one who played Captain Jack's annoying daughter in Torchwood.
So, bloody EXCELLENT cast. To be honest, it felt that the actors were better than the material though. Shame. I would recommend it though. It's really intriguing.
Still... looking forward to seeing Inherit The Wind with Kevin Spacey next week.