Mad House - Ambassadors Theatre

I loved this tonight! It's not a perfect play, but it's a great entertainment. It's first half is hilarious, much funnier than "The Unfriend," for example, or "Cock" (which preceded this play in this venue), in my opinion, then the second half dives into the deep seriousness of a Tracy Letts dysfunctional family play, and almost succeeds in being a great play, but tries too hard to hit too many targets too late to actually be one.

David Harbour is a brilliant anchor for this atonality, as he roots the raucous comedy of the first half in thoughtful and believable melancholy, then he roots the family tragedy of the second half in a loose and alive comic unpredictability. He is the key to this play maintaining depth and never becoming exhausting.

Tonight the house was full, and I was glad that, like with "Prima Facie," I booked Side Stalls E seats ahead of time, paying the big bucks, but avoiding the really big bucks lol. This house is small, and the show is entertaining, and there are two great actors at the centre of this doing great work, and one of them is in "Stranger Things," which just propelled Kate Bush to number one in the charts. Simply put, I wouldn't be complacent about tickets to this show, and would take advantage of the fact that there are still tons of tickets right now, at every price point, to book ahead, rather than wait till the show is a month from closing and realise tickets are being priced upwards.

Some spoilers follow. . .

My only experience of Theresa Rebeck is seeing Roger Allam in Hampstead Theatre's "Seminar." In that play, Allam played the meanest writing teacher in the world in the first half, then got sentimental in the second half. The mean comedy of the first half induced belly laughs (Roger Allam is very funny when he's mean), and then the second half almost succeeded at turning the whole thing dramatic. This play was very similar, but magnified.

I mean, Bill Pullman's Daniel, unbelievably, is even meaner and even funnier here than Roger Allam was in "Seminar," and Allam made his pupils cry with his savagery! In his mistreatment of his son, Pullman combines the gleeful mania of a Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" with the gruff glinting gritted macho of Robert Shaw's Quint in Jaws lol, but of course, he's not as scary, and more comic-tragic, as he's got emphysema, can barely breathe, and deteriorating and dying, he's being cared for by the child he likes the least (as he so cruelly insists on saying), David Harbour's Michael.

Whereas Pullman roots his comedy in performative outrageousness, Harbour roots his in boiling frustration, an overwhelmed and depressed version of Basil Fawlty, with added empathy and human decency. Harbour is immensely likeable, and the principal connection with a recognisable reality in the off-the-wall first half. My favourite comic moments came when Harbour's Michael finally loses the plot and sings "Danny Boy" to Daniel, a more appropriate and yet a more inappropriate song would have been impossible to imagine! Funniest thing I've seen in ages!

But all this comedy would be wearing if it weren't for two things: a touching human connection for Michael with the hospice carer, Lillian, a grounded and empathic Aliya Henry, and an antagonistic relationship with his malevolent menace of a sister, Pam, played with callous and manipulative contempt by Sinead Matthews.

Both Henry and Matthews are superb in their respective roles, engendering love and hate respectively, from me, for each of their characters. Matthews once played the most alive and tender sidekick and friend for Sian Brooke in Mike Leigh's "Ecstasy" at Hampstead Theatre, winning my undying affection, but she lost it for good with this Tracy Letts classic of a monster lol!

Anyhow, this play has some seriously great scenes, but too many themes: what is it to be crazy, what is it to be alive, sibling rivalry, parental favouritism, the corrupting power of money, etc, etc, and all this tagged onto some fantastic comic set pieces. The whole thing is too disjointed and unrealised ambition to be truly great, and yet it is truly terrific entertainment!

4 stars from me.

Really? I don't understand dynamic pricing at all. I want to see this but will probably try Today Tix rush.

Yes it was! Row C in the circle was £20 at 6:30pm yesterday. Some others dotted around for £20 and £35 too.

There is TodayTix rush for £25

After this afternoon’s viewing, I’m in the absolutely loved it camp. After my disappointing last visit to the Ambassadors to watch the Bartlett play, this was by far a more worthwhile afternoon spent here (despite getting a little leg cramp in the proces). I certainly got far more out of this play than the Bartlett one and thanks to dynamic pricing got a £35 ticket in row D of the circle which was great value seeing this fantastic cast on stage.

Act 1 was just great seeing Pullman and Harbour’s verbal comic sparring and was just such a fun watch. Both actors for me nailed it in the line delivery and Pullman’s comedic acting is just worth the ticket price alone. There is plenty of dark humour present in this play (the ending to the first Act was top quality stuff) which if like me you enjoy then you will get a lot of this play 

Act 2 shifts in tone to a more serious one as we examine the relationship between the 3 siblings and their relationship with their dad and battles over money, property and their father. Thankfully there was still some comedy here to lighten the mood. For me the tonal shift worked well and the scenes with the siblings here is really powerful stuff, particularly between Pam and Michael. 

Steve noted that he thought that there where too many issues thrown into this play without any being fully explored. I’d certainly agree with that assessment. 

With strong performances across the board and a nice set, overall I’d definitely recommend getting a ticket for this if you can get one with dynamic pricing. It was great to see a near full auditorium this afternoon with plenty of U.S. visitors in attendance. 

Rating - 4⭐️

Hi!

Just after people's thoughts on seating. I can get stalls row M seat 4 or circle row F seat 7 for the same price. Which do you think would offer the best view?

Many thanks :-)

Sat in the circle row D and was a great view. I sat in row F for the Bartlett play and also had a great view as well. Definitely circle seats for me.

Stage was low for The Shark is Broken, and front row Stalls offered an excellent view, so it varies from production to production.

I got a rush ticket in row G for the matinee today. It did offer me a seat in row A first but I cancelled and tried again to see if there was anything better and there was (the stage is quite high for this production).

Will post thoughts later, but I didnt look at cast board and wondered if that was truly Sinead Matthews as Pam for today’s gala/premiere because my issues with the play were how Pam was performed. I think it is a better play than she performed it. Pullman and Harbour and Henry were in top form