Giant - Royal Court / Harold Pinter Theatre

Saw this tonight and felt compelled to stand at the end and vote 5 stars.

The writing is brilliantly sharp, creating 6 very different characters who all make perfect sense, are at loggerheads, and the play integrates words that Dahl said on the record at pivotal moments to give the whole thing a cutting ring of authenticity.

Some spoilers follow. . .

The topicality of this show is fortuitously ridiculous, touching on Dahl's opinions written in an article after Israel invaded Lebanon in the eighties (Israel is this week engaged in conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah), and his racist conflation of the Israeli Government with the "race" of "Jews."

That he is racist is a given, the question is how racist? Is it inadvertent or deliberate? What motivates him? How much can he control himself?

The other question is the degree to which everyone doing business with him (his British Publisher, his American publisher, his handyman, his housekeeper and his fiancée) are complicit in his racism.

Lithgow's Dahl gets the funniest lines but also the unfunniest lines; he puts characters at ease with effortless charm, together and individually, but also makes everyone anxious with targeted barbs, together and individually. He does the same for the audience, who, like me, were laughing, pindrop silent, gasping, always on tenterhooks, edge of the seat alert.

Lithgow's performance of Dahl is utterly riveting and, in my opinion, a certainty for nominations and a near certainty for awards.

And all 5 of the other performers are also terrific, with Elliot Levey as Dahl's Jewish British Publisher and Romola Garai as his Jewish American Publisher particularly fantastic, playing all sides of every moment that they are gifted by Lithgow throwing dreams and nightmares at them.

I look forward to a transfer of this, and thinking lots more about this brilliantly written and brilliantly acted show. After all, I won't be able to get another ticket to this run lol.

PS: The front row is a bit too close to see all performances at all times because you are a bit beneath a table that often obscures one seat, which is occupied by different characters at different times. Luckily, Lithgow isn't one of them and what you do see is 6 of the best actors doing the best work all year.

Like I said above, I voted 5 stars in the poll. The writing and acting demand it.