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Post by joem on May 14, 2022 9:46:26 GMT
Since this seems to be the first reaction to this play it merits a slightly longer comment than usual so please be advised that, while there are no plot spoilers, aspects of the production are mentioned which you may want to discover for yourself. There's no other way of talking intelligibly about such a play.
A huge, sprawling epic of Brobdingnagian proportions "The House of Shades" by Beth Steel aspires to be both family saga and social commentary and while it doesn't hit all its targets, it hits enough of them (most?) to make this an absorbing and didactic evening. You see elements of the social realism, the family as a unit dramas such as Wesker but also possibly more exotic influences: see below.
The play tells the story of a working-class family in Nottingham - the Websters - with a mix of disappointment, ambition, hope and despair, in short the results of leading normal lives. Structured into five main scenes spanning over five decades the intelligent use of the cast of twelve manages to carry off the ageing and the appearance of new characters splendidly. Interspersed with this is of course the politics, neatly woven into the family story, chronicling the demise of a way of life (lamented by some, welcomed by others, more nuanced for most) and mostly centred around the Labour Party, its role as defender and betrayer of the working classes - depending where you stand. And of course, inevitably for a play with such a broad spectrum there is room to shine a light on other concerns such as feminism and racism, with a dash of Brexit and Red Wall polemics to spice things up.
Anne-Marie Duff is undoubtedly one of the very finest actresses of her generation and to see her at work is always a rewarding experience. Here she goes through a whole gamut of emotions and is funny and sad, impressive and pathetic in turns. On top of this she has a pretty good singing voice, which I wasn't aware of until now. Backed by a solid ensemble this is acting of a very high order indeed.
If faults it has they are faults of ambition, not of execution. I found much of the shorter second half unnecessary and given the length of the work (1 hr 40 mins first part, 50 minutes second) wonder whether it might not have condensed the narrative and still said the same things. The second point is a slight tendency towards the over- if Steel is setting herself up to be the Lorca of the northern terraces she certainly makes a strong case for herself here but a couple of details threaten to melodramatise a story which already has plenty of punch. I'd say as well I prefer my realism not to be magical unless the tone is consistently so.
In the absence of any reviews I'm going to stick my neck out here; this is not just a very entertaining play but possibly an important one. I don't need to know that Beth Steel is a coalminer's daughter - hereditary badges bore me at all levels - to see that she knows her subject and that she is potentially a major writing talent. Watch this is you can, it deserves it.
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Post by Mark on May 14, 2022 9:48:57 GMT
Oh great! I'm seeing this one on Monday.
I hadn't realised until reading your post that it is the same playwright as Wonderland, about the Coal Miners, which I really enjoyed up at Northern Stage a few years back.
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Post by greenandbrownandblue on May 14, 2022 10:06:36 GMT
thanks for this review. What's the staging like? I'm thinking of buying one of the £10 'restricted view' seats at the extreme end of Row A stalls - how restricted do you think this would be?
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Post by lonlad on May 14, 2022 11:23:10 GMT
Great review! Anne-Marie Duff sang in the Donmar SWEET CHARITY, but I don't think has done since then. Sounds a terrific evening.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on May 14, 2022 22:20:14 GMT
I think enjoy might be the wrong word to use, given the subject matter and many of the darker scenes depicted, but I did feel very captivated and interested in the entire play. Anne-Marie is amazing on stage, and the rest of the cast were fantastic too. The use of the actors to play younger or older versions of the family members worked really well and gave a strong connection throughout the piece and 'history repeating itself' isn't quite right, but I can't think right now of the phrase I mean... Maybe it'll come to me later. What's the staging like? I'm thinking of buying one of the £10 'restricted view' seats at the extreme end of Row A stalls - how restricted do you think this would be? I think stalls restricted is probably a lot better than the circle. It's a wide stage and they act on the extremes of both ends as well as coming quite far forward, most of this you would probably miss if you were in the circle (or you would have to lean forward to see). Most of the action is within the 'kitchen' of the house - I think if you miss anything it will probably be the stairs right at the back left corner of the stage and maybe if the blocking means actors are blocking the others, but otherwise, it should be quite a good view? |
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Post by NeilVHughes on May 14, 2022 22:37:09 GMT
A play that is not what it seems on the surface.
It is going to take some time to digest, the Party Political tropes are superficial, the play belongs to the women.
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Post by Mark on May 16, 2022 21:45:32 GMT
Thought this was really excellent, with great performances all around. Great writing and execution - and I felt it all came together in the end.
Highly recommend!
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Post by pws on May 17, 2022 17:17:42 GMT
I was quite engrossed with this (last night). It does all come together in the second part, and I did not feel I was being preached at.
Was in row H and had a perfect view. Could imagine the circle could be tricky.
It was not sold out, last time I looked.
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Post by lonlad on May 17, 2022 23:25:25 GMT
Saw it tonight -- a total mess. The political and the personal don't conjoin and the second act is borderline preposterous, and wastes Anne-Marie Duff who is seen only in a lurid flashback sequence since by that point her role is played by her own mother (don't ask). Lots of great ideas that don't cohere and the Nye Bevanscene needs immediate excision.
Very shouty, too. And no one is given the remoted chance to develop a character -- they are placards plain and simple. ("I am a Communist" someone says right on cue.)
Oh well.
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Post by david on May 19, 2022 22:47:26 GMT
This was my final show of my London trip and despite some earlier play picks not really doing much for me, I’m glad I picked up a ticket for this. Having originally bought one if the £20 pillar view seats in the stalls, this was quickly upgraded thanks to the FOH staff who encouraged those of us in the RV seats to move forward or to a more central seat just before the show started. Needing no encouragement I managed to get myself a £43 centre row seat a few seats down from my original pillar seat. Though thankfully if I had stayed in my original seat. G17, thanks to the set design the pillar location passed was positioned in front if some empty stage so it wouldn’t of mattered if I hadn’t moved.
I’m sure I’m not the only board member dreads theatre emails stating a 7pm start. From experience, this can only mean a long night is ahead. Despite the 2hr 45minute run time, this really flew by thanks to the engaging writing from Beth Steel and performed by a wonderful cast. Having never seen AMD on stage before, she was excellent and certainly went through every emotion possible. Though what really surprised me was her singing. Firstly, I have never heard her sing until tonight. Now that was impressive with her 2 show songs. More of that please AMD. It has been mentioned in previous posts that it’s the ladies that are the big winners with the writing in this play. Outstanding performances from all of them.
The use of the different time periods worked well in showing the changing relationships between the family members and how the way the kids grew up on stage was well executed in my opinion. I particularly enjoyed the 1960-70s scenes which for me if you took out the political aspects wouldn’t of looked out if place in an episode of Corrie. Talking of the political aspects of the writing, I thought it combined well with the more family driven plot threads. Though the only issue with me with the political aspect was the scene with the Dad near the end of Act 1 which I felt wasn’t really needed to drive the plot forward.
I think more balanced timings in each Act could of been done better. Act 1 is around the 90 minute mark and with a shorter 50 min run time in Act 2. By the end I was very happy walking out of the Almeda having had a good final night of theatre in London.
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Post by showgirl on May 20, 2022 4:28:40 GMT
Having booked late as I'm not keen on Anne-Marie Duff (yes, I know, everyone else seems to think the sun shines, etc, which makes me even more resistant), I could only find one of the most RV seats for the £10 I was prepared to risk at that stage and looking at the start times, I booked a matinee and given the running time now announced, was relieved that I had. However, once joem posted his review, I "upgraded" my ticket to a £20 one at the end of row A in the stalls. As the performance was already quite busy and is still a month away and with excellent reviews now in, I doubt there'd be any chance of being moved forward officially on the day; the run will probably have sold out by then if it hasn't already done so since I checked. My original seat might have been fine from what david has now said but I think I would have felt quite hemmed in, sitting for so long with others all round me, whereas now I will have no-one in front. It would be interesting to see how Beth Steel's work has developed as I've seen most, though not all of her plays. However, the last was several years ago, in Sheffield and I'm not sure I can remember much about that now, never mind the earlier ones! |
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Post by theatrebee on May 21, 2022 17:12:59 GMT
Just came out of the matinee and still recovering from it. I wasn’t entirely prepared for the more disturbing bits. When I was leaving I saw a woman visibly distressed, possibly about to faint. People were gathering around her to help. I don’t know if it was because of the show or something else but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was the show. A word of caution to those who are sensitive to visuals of blood, gore, pain. Helps to be prepared.
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Post by n1david on May 21, 2022 18:21:18 GMT
The Almeida content warning does indicate that there's some pretty nasty stuff in there: |
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Post by drmaplewood on May 21, 2022 20:10:48 GMT
Was there this afternoon too. I’m with lonlad in thinking this was a mess, the second half in particular is absolutely baffling.
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Post by theatrebee on May 22, 2022 12:14:24 GMT
thanks for this review. What's the staging like? I'm thinking of buying one of the £10 'restricted view' seats at the extreme end of Row A stalls - how restricted do you think this would be? I took the £10 restricted view seat E25. It was great for the price. The right edge of the stage is slightly obscured so you don't immediately see the actors entering from that side until they reach the centre of the stage, but I did not find that to affect my experience much. I'd sit there again. |
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Post by theatrebee on May 22, 2022 12:18:19 GMT
{Spoiler - click to view}
It was interesting to see how some of the characters switched their political ideologies over time to suit their convenience and present circumstances. |
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Post by tal on May 26, 2022 20:51:50 GMT
The more I think about this play, the more I like it. I was so immersed in the whole atmosphere, intrigued by the characters and fascinated by the story. If there’s anything to fault for me was the set - the play asks for something more substantial in my opinion.
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Post by dlevi on Jun 3, 2022 10:01:36 GMT
I attended a performance earlier this week and I found the play absorbing and insightful with terrific performances from all involved. That said, I felt there was something missing from the production overall - I felt as if the play fell short of its ambition. If you've seen it, you might understand what I mean. It had thematic weight and God knows it had dramatic incident but at its core I don't think it had an emotional center, mostly due to the fact that Ms Duff's character is so self-centered and unsympathetic. Nevertheless I was glad I saw it and I would recommend it to any of my friends who are "serious" theatergoers.
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Post by Dave B on Jun 3, 2022 22:23:26 GMT
Struggled with this so much. A top cast and our restricted seats became great centre stalls seats when everyone encouraged to move along as soon as the doors closed but other than that...
It feels like they've almost mis-sold it, and to the plays detriment. The Labour/Tory/politics stuff is a distraction, it is a mask for the actual themes around the women. Needs a strong editor and a whole bunch cut out and then to really focus on the story of the family - plenty of good stuff in there but this play doesn't really go for it.
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Post by n1david on Jun 3, 2022 23:09:19 GMT
Have to agree with the nuanced views earlier in this thread. I think there's some really good stuff in here, and I did really enjoy a lot of it, but there are so many "issues" in it that I felt it didn't cohere as a whole piece. So many issues raised and then dropped, or introduced late in the play in order to try and provide context for what we'd already seen on-stage. I'm not sorry I went to see it and enjoyed it (and it provoked conversation for several hours afterwards over dinner) so absolutely not without value, but ultimately it wasn't what it could have been - and given the quality of the performances, it would have been nice it there had just been a bit more time with a good dramaturg to provide some focus to the play, it could really have been something exceptional.
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Post by barelyathletic on Jun 7, 2022 9:12:33 GMT
God! This was grim. House of Gloom I think. Yes, it's a pretty-well-written character piece, if you like your characters steeped in angst and misery for two and a half ours, and Anne-Marie Duff is very good as are most of the cast. But too often they are just reduced to screaming at each other across the width of the Almeida stage and spouting old political tropes that we've heard a hundred times before, without giving us any alternate way out of the misery. I wasn't ever bored and the shocking reveal in act two will haunt me for a long long long time. But it's a terrible piece to sit through after the time we've had. Maybe I just wanted a bit of light and less shade.
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