Consent - NT Dorfman / Harold Pinter

I'm going on 9th May. Looks a good cast.

Remember the Cottesloe? Remember how the cheap crap seats in the Cottesloe were actually something of a bargain? Man I hate the Dorfman. I was happy to pay £10 to have a bar in my line of sight, and now they expect me to pay £15 to literally not be able to see anything other than a steel pillar and the person next to me.

I will be in the Gallery with a £15 ticket so I can provide a report from the worst possible seat in the Dorfman :-)

I'm going tonight. As I'm there anyway, I thought I'd also go beforehand to a talk on 25 years of the Cottesloe/Dorfman chaired by Michael Billington.

I don't recall the cheap seats in the Cottesloe being much better than their equivalent in the Dorfman, though am happy to take your word for it, Baemax. False economy now for me, anyway, as what I saved on the ticket cost I'd spend, and more, on treatment from my osteopath or physiotherapist for the resulting discomfort. Who on earth designed an arrangement which requires you to lean forward throughout and, in many cases, sideways at the same time? It's an ergonomic nightmare and distracting however good the play.

All the Rush tickets I got for the Dorfman so far were great.

Could not disagree more with parsley. I think as well as being well cast it is very well written. The gaps didn't worry me at all. It seemed quite clear as to what was happening. Each to his own.

Parents indulging in fine wine and food whilst without a seemingly care about their children... One day someone will write a great play about the McCanns...

Their behaviour, whilst far from ideal, should not prove to be unplausible or even unrealistic to anyone above a certain age.

Also, the play grabs snap shots of their lives and if you think reconciliation between couples don't happen or people sleep with others to get revenge you have led a very sheltered life. Most people will know some persons similar to those depicted in the play whether they know it or not.

Oh dear god, what WAS this tonight?

The National, I thought, had gone away from presenting plays about rich people (in this case lawyers) moaning about their lives and kids and work, with a visit from a "poor" to supposedly raise social conscience, but no. Are we genuinely still being asked to care about the wealthy?

The acting is good, but the play is rotten.

Badly structured, with a very strange device of introducing a small drama, then resolving it, leaving the audience with little pull to find out what happens next, because we know it's going to be tidied up in a few minutes.

It's not a spoiler to say the little bit of "consent" within the play comes from the subject of rape. It is handled so clumsily though, and not even a major focus. In fact the rape victims are presented so insultingly, I'd be surprised if there weren't complaints for rape survivors. In a very dangerous way, it's main point seems to be that snot only do poor people get raped, but guess what, rich people do too.

Much of the story and stories are so unbelievable though, as has been pointed out in previous posts, that you can't believe anyone or thing as having actually happened for a second.

Why should we care about these people? We don't. And thus dies any dramatic tension or effect as we all just sit there waiting for not a lot to carry on happening.

The design is very poor for a Dorfman show, even if it is in the round/square. A few sofas and boxes rising up, then dropping down.. An array of different light shades hanging in front of the audience.

You can sort of see where Raine was aiming her focus at, but unfortunately she's tried to put far too many issues and angles into her play and thus nothing gets discussed or thought about too much for too long. She also has a terrible habit of having characters very unsubtly speak their subtext. Spoon feeding time.

As Parsley said, the high calibre cast (although we thought Priyanga Burford was really quite poor and stood out like a sore thumb acting wise. But then she doesn't actually have a character or anything to really play. She does initially, but as Parsley pointed out, its quickly swept under the carpet) might win it good reviews, but surely the play should be the focus for reviewers, and in this case, it is simply not good enough.

Having said all of this, the core NT audience of white, 50+yr olds there tonight laughed all the way through it, and seemed nicely content by the end. Nothing too heavy or much demanded of them. Just some couples arguing for a bit, but everything being tied up nicely before you go home.


A big disappointment.

Seating is almost as PeoplePlaces & Things was.  Clear view for all in the main Pit banks of seating.  Some of the long side seats on the 1st and 2nd levels may be restricted when the action occurs nearer the edges of the rectangular stage, but that doesn't happen a lot.  You won't be missing anything special in the set (or the play unfortunately...) if you are sat on the long sides.

Whoops. This discussion went left at the traffic lights when it should have gone straight on...