better late than never, right? my account of "maurice" at the theatre
"Maurice" on stage @ the Above the Stag Theatre in London - My impressions
In the middle of March I took the train from Paris to London to see the quite wonderful stage adaptation of “Maurice” at the small Above the Stag theatre near Victoria station.
All in all, it was very well done and a great joy to watch: It started out with Mr Ducie’s teaching lesson at the beach and ended with Maurice’s and Clive’s final confrontation.
The cast was quite big, I somehow expected it to be smaller: Alongside the three main characters there were Mr. Ducie, Maurice’s mother, Ada, Risley, Lasker Jones, Anne…
The only decor was a white cube and two white chairs, the costumes however indicated the period setting. Most of the acting was excellent. The closeness to the audience demands strong performances, and they were delivered! - With one exception:
The big and only disappointment was the presentation of Alec Scudder. Of course I didn’t expect the force of Rupert Graves, but the actor who performed really lacked presence. Also, the dialogue scenes between Maurice and Alec seemed to happen very fast: the most important dialogue from their second night was reported to the museum and their hotel scene was thus scrapped.
The actor who played Maurice was very convincing (I wanted to cuddle him ^-^), and so was Clive.
It occured only afterwards that I might have taken some pictures, and am now sorry that I didn’t.
In the middle of March I took the train from Paris to London to see the quite wonderful stage adaptation of “Maurice” at the small Above the Stag theatre near Victoria station.
All in all, it was very well done and a great joy to watch: It started out with Mr Ducie’s teaching lesson at the beach and ended with Maurice’s and Clive’s final confrontation.
The cast was quite big, I somehow expected it to be smaller: Alongside the three main characters there were Mr. Ducie, Maurice’s mother, Ada, Risley, Lasker Jones, Anne…
The only decor was a white cube and two white chairs, the costumes however indicated the period setting. Most of the acting was excellent. The closeness to the audience demands strong performances, and they were delivered! - With one exception:
The big and only disappointment was the presentation of Alec Scudder. Of course I didn’t expect the force of Rupert Graves, but the actor who performed really lacked presence. Also, the dialogue scenes between Maurice and Alec seemed to happen very fast: the most important dialogue from their second night was reported to the museum and their hotel scene was thus scrapped.
The actor who played Maurice was very convincing (I wanted to cuddle him ^-^), and so was Clive.
It occured only afterwards that I might have taken some pictures, and am now sorry that I didn’t.