anatomy of a suicide (Royal Court)

I honestly thought this was one of the most emotionally affecting plays I've seen in a very long time, but I predict it will be a bit of a marmite one.

I saw this last night and all ran smoothly. This does have more funny moments than I anticipated but also some lines which had me holding my heart. As has been said requires concentration - found myself distracted by lighting choices as I at first thought that it was trying to direct my attention but then I realised the choices are all mine so I feel no-one will have a similar view of this play as we will all be drawn to the lines/actions which resonante more and there is no guarantee this will be in one character. I personally found the slow motion in the final scenes irritating but I'm sure others will disagree.

I saw this tonight, and whatever hesitations and disconnections existed in previews have been erased: the whole production seemed seamless to me. And I didn't find it the least confusing: it's only very occasionally that several people are talking at once, and although you have to listen carefully (not a bad thing, right?), the three narratives all came through quite clearly. I was engaged and in suspense throughout, and would very much recommend the play and the production. Katie Mitchell is so precise and focused in her directing that the whole thing packs a powerful emotional punch. Five stars from me.

I thought this was fantastic. Doesn't require any more attention than any normal play. Quite incredible performances and a brilliant piece.

I wonder what the thinking was around the costume changes.

An excellent play superbly directed, I loved this.

Some spoilers follow. . .

If there is a flaw to this production, which follows three members of a family in three different timelines, it's the one Ryan mentioned. Two characters (Hattie Morahan's Carol and Kate O'Flynn's Anna) are vividly and exceptionally conceived, whereas one (Adelle Leonce's Bonnie) is vague, receded, barely there. This is by design, as the numbness of Bonnie is suggested to be a consequence of the historical actions of Carol and Anna. However, this created a displeasing lack of symmetry, as an audience member, in that I was completely gripped by the action left and centre stage, and found the action stage right dull, by comparison.

With that one caveat, this is one of the best productions of the year. The casting is spot on. Hattie Morahan is SO good at curling up into a metaphorical ball of confusion, her wide eyes taking in everything and processing nothing. Kate O'Flynn is SO good at the exact opposite, plunging into lived experience with verve, processing too much too quickly, with so much fury that she seems to shatter. Morahan's inaccessible Carol is endlessly mysterious, while Kate O'Flynn's open book of an Anna is so immediate and relateable that she makes you laugh before you have a chance to cry. Adelle Leonce's Bonnie is frozen, a human calculator adding up the past.

The fascination of the play is that such apparently different character types are all swamped by mental illness. Whether mental illness (particularly, a propensity to depression) is passed through generations via genetics, experiences or the epigenetic transference of trauma to fetuses, is a question the play elegantly opens up and wisely never closes down, so he production is like a fevered dream of questions and life experiences, emanating dreamlike from the stage as a river of information and emotions. If ever a production must be seen and felt, rather than talked about, this is it, as the experience of these three related story threads unfolding simultaneously is indescribable.

Katie Mitchell's decision to dress and undress the characters onstage works brilliantly as a metaphor for the power of mental illness to take control of minds. These women are controlled by forces out of their control, and that is what Mitchell makes us feel.

Despite the fact that I found Adelle Leonce's Bonnie's numbness frustrating though explicable, this show is so sensory and impactful in it's unique theatrical language, I recommend it to the maximum. 5 stars.

Was it hard to get the Rush ticket, please, firefingers? As when I looked a few times recently, this wasn't selling that well so there was no hurry to decide when to go, whereas now it's almost sold out so a Rush ticket would be my only affordable hope, but as you can't book them until 10 am on the day, and only for Fri/Sat (in this case), it's a bit risky and I need a back-up plan.

Really enjoyed this (actually that's not the right word....I was immersed in it and experienced it and was intrigued by it all at the same time)! Intelligent theatre and such a clever format. Had to concentrate but easy to follow. My only slight problem was that I was left wanting more of every story.....but that's a small price to pay. This playwright is one to watch -her use of language is fantastic. Great acting all round.