"The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide...

Didn't it mention in a couple of the reviews that the title is a quote from an essay by George Bernard Shaw?

Ta, x.

Tony Kushner's title does stem from Shaw's explicatory book, An Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, and indeed just after the play opens one of the characters reports on a production of Major Barbara he'd just seen - he didn't care for it or for Shaw's brand of dilettantish socialism. That's because he and almost everyone else in the play is the product of an old school hard line Socialist upbringing in the Brooklyn home of patriarch Gus Marcantonio.

Gus, now comfortably retired, was a longshoreman - like Arthur Miller's Eddie Carbone, not a coincidence - and union organizer in whom the flame of revolution has finally flickered and died. He sees the class system not breaking down, as he (and Marx) foresaw, but being incrementally restored in America - as indeed it is - and he can't face it. Or maybe it's just that he's a victim of dementia. Whatever the case, he has tried to commit suicide once and he's going to try again so his contentious family and their significant others have gathered around to try to prevent it. This is the play.

Although it's a working class family, most of them are highly educated and erudite. The talk is all on a very high level and if one doesn't quite follow every exchange one knows that some intelligent things are being said and argued over. But it's not just a play of ideas. The offspring are very f*cked up people. The oldest son, Pill (PierLuigi) is a gay man in a long term relationship he's now throwing away because of his infatuation for a rent boy; the daughter, Empty (Maria Teresa) is a lesbian whose partner has had herself artificially inseminated to produce the baby she hopes will save their relationship; V (Vito) is the youngest and least advantaged of the three and feels it bitterly. Clio, Gus's sister, is an ex-nun and ex-terrorist (she was a member of Peru's notorious Sendero Luminoso) in search of any solution to the problem of life and, especially, death.

The many plot threads are in a constant state of connect/disconnect brilliantly handled by Kushner and by director Michael Boyd whose work here is absolutely masterful. The second half of the second act - a scene of choreographed chaos in which nine actors engage in a massive free for all of invective, individually and as a group, constantly talking over each other and around each other in a state of near meltdown, yet making every point that needs to be made so that the audience actually misses nothing - is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen on a stage. When it concludes one wants to shout bravi! to all concerned.

And then, by contrast, the third act features a long two handed scene between father and daughter that is so quietly gut-wrenching as to be almost unbearable as a lifetime's worth of painful truths are finally spoken.

There are eleven great roles in this play and the eleven actors who fill them are all excellent. David Calder, as Gus, the focus of everything, is beyond brilliant in what must be the performance of his long career, and Tamsin Greig, as Empty, is right up there with him. But it feels wrong to be singling people out when they're all so good.

As others here have noted, it's a long play but never feels too long - there's so much in it, so well organized, so well played. It's just a great and unique piece of theatre.

Excellent review mallardo. Still heavily on my mind a few days later. I could easily go and watch this play again.

Don't miss it!

So much looking forward to this. So relieved I booked a matinee...

I thought this a great play, immaculately acted and directed. I agree that the end of act two was a theatrical tour de force reminding me of a finale to a Mozart opera where he piles on confusion and theatrical intrigue but nevertheless all the emotions are delineated clearly. It set me wondering how much leeway they have in performance and whether the 'talking over' has to be timed with almost musical precision or does it differ markedly from performance to performance.

I've sat in the back row of the circle for this and Labyrinth, and it's absolutely fine - such a small theatre that the distance isn't a problem. And the set for this is on three levels so I suspect the view at the back is better than the front of the stalls. Once you've prodded the people in front and asked them to stop leaning forward at any rate.

Only issue with the circle is that the leg room is limited - there are some seats with gaps next to them due to pillars (which don't restrict the view) so worth getting one of those if possible. Having said that I prefer the circle seats to the high seats at the back of the stalls.

It's worth giving the circle a go as the back row (which I presume is sold out for this show) is significantly cheaper than the rest of the theatre (£18 for matinees), so if you're OK with the view you can get a bargain next time. I paid £13 per show for this season as they were doing a 3 for 2 deal.

Matinee cancelled today due to cast illness. Very last minute given I picked up my ticket at 1.30... no decision yet on evening show.

Thankfully got online and nabbed the last two stalls seats for an evening in the last week, but not much left....

There's very little left, I went online as soon as the announcement was made rather than waiting at the Box Office and there seemed to be only a handful of seats left for each date.

I'd already had to rearrange this once thanks to a friend arranging a party, so I'm damned if I'm going to let circumstances get the better of me...

Weird that there's no mention of it on their Twitter.

Saw this on Friday, before the cast illness. I really enjoyed it - yes it's too long and too clever and self indulgent but never boring. It reminded me of a Donna Tartt novel, you desperately want to get back on the highway to the central narrative but enjoy yourself on the back roads.

Well this was splendid! Seemed right to be seeing it on the day Trump was elected and there was a point in the play where the whole audience groaned (as one of the characters was saying a democrat would soon be elected and then things would get better!)
I am so glad I saw it...absorbing, fascinating play and performances from all the actors were stunning!