Our Private Life
Colin Morgan. Is. Brilliant. On stage. Just in case you had any doubts. I just got back from the Opening Night of Our Private Life at the Royal Court Theatre where I met up with loreley_se, londinensa and rodneyscat -- and we may have run into a few familiar faces ::waves::. Underneath the cut, I'll describe the play in more detail so as to avoid spoiling anyone. I will say: it's not a happy clappy production. It deals with some very dark themes; all of our group walked out with the same conclusion -- it'll take some time to pull together our thoughts about the story itself.
But, as for the important bits and bobs, Colin is an utter delight to watch. How he uses his body and his face to convey his emotions and add to his performance is exquisite. And considering the theatre seats just over 80, he's only a couple of metres away so it provides the audience with ample opportunities to really study his performance. But he wasn't alone in being impressive. The entire ensemble was excellent; powerful performances from each of them in my opinion.
The show itself lasts one and a half hours without an intermission, but it goes by remarkably quickly. After the show, we headed out and waited at the Stage Door in hopes of catching Colin. Sure enough, after a fairly short wait he appeared and found himself met by a group of about 20 fans who were remarkably well behaved. He was an utter sweetheart, signing programmes, posing for photographs, and genuinely thanking all of us for coming. By the by, he was looking mighty fine. His hair is *long* and getting all curly again. But goodness, that lad is always going to be lean -- but it's a healthy looking lean. I know some of my possee had cameras with them, so photographs should be floating around soon :D. All in all -- 'twas a very good night.
Edit: And speaking of those photos, here they are..
The play was written by Pedro Miguel Rozo and translated by Simon Scardifield. As the programme says, "it's a new black comedy of twisted morality set in modern Colombia". The synopsis: "When a rumour spreads like wildfire through a Columbian village, a respectable family start to wither in the heat. As long-buried secrets begin to surface, their efforts to discern truth from slander become fused with a desire for justice."
Essentially, the Father is accused by a former plantation worker of having abused her young son. The accusation leads to Carlos (played by Colin), Father's youngest son, beginning to believe that both he and his brother, Sergio, were also abused by their father as young boys. As Carlos is bi-polar and also has a tendency to create fantastical stories, his credibility is questioned by his brother until Carlos sees the Psychiatrist and under hypnosis, recalls trips by the river which suggest an abusive scenario. Sergio, beginning to believe in Carlos, pays for the plantation worker, Tania, to hire a lawyer to commence a legal case against the Father for abuse of her son, Joaquin. The legal case is ultimately dropped when Joaquin tells the Psychiatrist that he's made the story up, but it doesn't prevent the family from unravelling as even the Mother begins to question whether the Father did abuse her sons. In the second last scene, the Father leaves the family after describing what did happen during that trip to the river; a perfectly innocent attempt to cheer up Sergio. In the final scene however, there's an encounter between the Father and Joaquin in which it is revealed that yes, the Father did molest Joaquin for a period of two years. During those years he talks about how he was in love with Joaquin and was faithful to him, foregoing even sex with his wife. But when Joaquin reached puberty, the Father broke off the relationship. For you see, according to the Father's logic, he isn't a queer (in fact he hates queers even though his son Carlos is a queer) and he won't have a relationship with a man.
And the last line, is a distraught Joaquin asking who's that? The boy he can see in the river; the boy for whom there's a football waiting.
Difficult and dark themes indeed. It was a bit odd watching it because the intense scenes came across very effectively, but there were also moments of comic relief (particularly on the part of the Mother character). But, you almost didn't know whether to laugh or not. Moreover, the play does suffer from the translation and moving it from a Latin American environment to a production here in England. One of our possee has a Latin background and she was able to shed light on the fact that many of the jokes in the story are based on Latin soap operas and ergo, without that cultural background, the humour goes over your head.
As for the story itself, until the very last scene, you're shifting between -- did he or didn't he? I almost wish they'd left the ending ambiguous. Nonetheless, it was a powerful ending -- disturbing though it was.
I will be going back again in a few weeks time and I'm looking forward to seeing it again once the cast have settled into their roles. It will also be interesting to see how they continue to balance the humour against the drama. An interesting evening. Indeed.
But, as for the important bits and bobs, Colin is an utter delight to watch. How he uses his body and his face to convey his emotions and add to his performance is exquisite. And considering the theatre seats just over 80, he's only a couple of metres away so it provides the audience with ample opportunities to really study his performance. But he wasn't alone in being impressive. The entire ensemble was excellent; powerful performances from each of them in my opinion.
The show itself lasts one and a half hours without an intermission, but it goes by remarkably quickly. After the show, we headed out and waited at the Stage Door in hopes of catching Colin. Sure enough, after a fairly short wait he appeared and found himself met by a group of about 20 fans who were remarkably well behaved. He was an utter sweetheart, signing programmes, posing for photographs, and genuinely thanking all of us for coming. By the by, he was looking mighty fine. His hair is *long* and getting all curly again. But goodness, that lad is always going to be lean -- but it's a healthy looking lean. I know some of my possee had cameras with them, so photographs should be floating around soon :D. All in all -- 'twas a very good night.
Edit: And speaking of those photos, here they are..
The play was written by Pedro Miguel Rozo and translated by Simon Scardifield. As the programme says, "it's a new black comedy of twisted morality set in modern Colombia". The synopsis: "When a rumour spreads like wildfire through a Columbian village, a respectable family start to wither in the heat. As long-buried secrets begin to surface, their efforts to discern truth from slander become fused with a desire for justice."
Essentially, the Father is accused by a former plantation worker of having abused her young son. The accusation leads to Carlos (played by Colin), Father's youngest son, beginning to believe that both he and his brother, Sergio, were also abused by their father as young boys. As Carlos is bi-polar and also has a tendency to create fantastical stories, his credibility is questioned by his brother until Carlos sees the Psychiatrist and under hypnosis, recalls trips by the river which suggest an abusive scenario. Sergio, beginning to believe in Carlos, pays for the plantation worker, Tania, to hire a lawyer to commence a legal case against the Father for abuse of her son, Joaquin. The legal case is ultimately dropped when Joaquin tells the Psychiatrist that he's made the story up, but it doesn't prevent the family from unravelling as even the Mother begins to question whether the Father did abuse her sons. In the second last scene, the Father leaves the family after describing what did happen during that trip to the river; a perfectly innocent attempt to cheer up Sergio. In the final scene however, there's an encounter between the Father and Joaquin in which it is revealed that yes, the Father did molest Joaquin for a period of two years. During those years he talks about how he was in love with Joaquin and was faithful to him, foregoing even sex with his wife. But when Joaquin reached puberty, the Father broke off the relationship. For you see, according to the Father's logic, he isn't a queer (in fact he hates queers even though his son Carlos is a queer) and he won't have a relationship with a man.
And the last line, is a distraught Joaquin asking who's that? The boy he can see in the river; the boy for whom there's a football waiting.
Difficult and dark themes indeed. It was a bit odd watching it because the intense scenes came across very effectively, but there were also moments of comic relief (particularly on the part of the Mother character). But, you almost didn't know whether to laugh or not. Moreover, the play does suffer from the translation and moving it from a Latin American environment to a production here in England. One of our possee has a Latin background and she was able to shed light on the fact that many of the jokes in the story are based on Latin soap operas and ergo, without that cultural background, the humour goes over your head.
As for the story itself, until the very last scene, you're shifting between -- did he or didn't he? I almost wish they'd left the ending ambiguous. Nonetheless, it was a powerful ending -- disturbing though it was.
I will be going back again in a few weeks time and I'm looking forward to seeing it again once the cast have settled into their roles. It will also be interesting to see how they continue to balance the humour against the drama. An interesting evening. Indeed.