The Twilight Zone - Almeida/Ambassador

I see Lizzy Connolly is in it - that's all I need to know.

More also liked Mr Burns.

Foxa, I was there too - in the front row - how did I not see you?

Myself, I had no particular love for the old '60s series - I was there to see Lizzy Connolly and I was not disappointed on that score! I did know some of the episodes however. There are eight of them in the play, interwoven, as foxa says. I suppose there was no other way to do it - they couldn't be run as complete episodes back to back to back without the play being a very bumpy ride. But, again, as foxa says, it all ends up a very mixed bag because some stories are much better than others. In fact one wonders why some of the stories were chosen at all.

The exception to the pattern is an episode called The Shelter which takes up a good chunk of second act and is played straight through. It's a serious piece about human behaviour in a crisis - missile attack, who gets into the bomb shelter - that becomes a portrait of society particularly appropriate to our current situation both here and in America. It's wonderfully written - Rod Serling wrote the original but Anne Washburn has clearly intervened with new material - and played. For me it was easily the highlight of the evening.

I mentioned that The Shelter is "serious" - as all of the original episodes generally were - but much of this play is not. Director Richard Jones applies a "take" on the material which often seems just this side of parody. The black and white and grey sets and costumes are, I suppose, appropriate, since the stage is framed as a large TV set. But the actors all seem to be giving heightened performances - big reactions, knowing looks, melodramatic line readings - as if this represents yesterday's acting style. But that just isn't so. The acting in the series was usually quite excellent - the dramatic heightening was achieved through camera angles and editing choices. Jones's approach does not do justice to the series he wants to pay homage to.

John Marquez does a nice job playing Serling, handling the host's unique purple prosey intros and extros and moments of narration with style. But other actors get in on it too, stepping out of scenes to do their Serling impressions. And there's an ongoing cigarette gag that seems to have a purpose I could not detect - was Serling notorious for always having a cigarette in hand? Whatever...

The play didn't really work for me. It was too hit and miss, too unfocused, lacking in dramatic momentum, too at odds with its original material. But I would be remiss if I didn't note that it does have a rousing and quite unique ending that supplies some context to the evening and which, I think, contributed to its warm reception from the audience. So it does get some things right.

I'm sorry I missed you Mallardo - my husband and I were back in the Row H pole seats.

I agree The Shelter was the highlight. And some of the fragments were intriguing, such as the mysterious little girl with the cocoa and the ventriloquist dummy scene. Besides The Shelter two of the other stories that were given a lot of time were the Astronaut story and the man who couldn't sleep (which provided an excuse for a song and some great nightmare stuff, but ultimately left me a bit, I dunno.) And there were some things I didn't understand (the party being shown on the TV screen.)

Serling not only smoked on camera he would advertise Chesterfield cigarettes - I think it was a bit in-jokey, but also establishes the period stuff:

And Mallardo is right - the actors were usually top-notch on the Twilight Zone series. I wonder how the play would work if it was played with more realism and genuine eeriness.

quick question to those who have seen it. I was looking to by tickets for a Christmas gift and was wondering how restricted the £10 and £20 tickets near the front were? Thanks

Fine review of this in Islington's local paper. Shame they got the theatre wrong!

www.islingtongazette.co.uk/entertainment/theatre/the-twilight-zone-park-theatre-review-crazy-boundary-breaking-theatre-1-5320798

 I stayed but was not to impressed. I expected more so felt left down.

I saw this last night and just didnt really get the point of it? its is a parody? is it meant to make me think about the current political climate? its it just meant to be a nostalgic evening of sillyness? The show, and I have no idea what it's trying to say, and after Mr Burns i was so excited to see this... I guess i should have know what to expect from Richard Jones though....

I also saw same afternoon

Never seen almeida that empty at a matinee

I'm not sure that The Twilight Zone does have commercial co-producers.