The House of Blue Leaves

It is a very funny play, with dark underpinnings. The stage show was filmed in the 80s with John Mahoney, Swoozie Kurtz, Christine Baranski, Julie Hagerty, and a young Ben Stiller. And yes “that site” has a full copy. I recall that the 80s version caused a change in Tony Award rules because it was eligible for best new play as it had never been in a Broadway house till then but had been around for fifteen years. I think that is when they made a rule about “classics”

I was very lucky to see the 1980s Broadway revival (which as mentioned above was filmed with its closing cast - Christine Baranski having replaced Stockard Channing during the run) and having gone in almost blind I thought it one of the best things I'd seen - a genius script, superlative cast, and a director, Jerry Zaks, who really understood how to get the most out of the piece. It was both hysterically funny and deeply politically - an anarchic, surreal black comedy.

I was hugely disappointed in the UK production the following year which opened the Lilian Bayliss Theatre (which is as TallPaul says a studio theatre within the Sadlers Wells complex). It had a good cast but felt very inauthentic and leaden - lacking in comedy and a sense of place. The venue itself wasn't ideal - and sadly that first season of in-house productions wasn't particularly successful and after a couple of years the venue stopped doing plays at all (though I did see a very good production of The Seagull there - which had Strictly's own Caroline Quentin as Masha!)

I held onto the hope that it was just that we Brits hadn't got a grip on a very American play - but the 2011 Broadway revival didn't really hit the spot either. Again another great cast including Ben Stiller, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alison Pill and Thomas Sadoski gave their all - but David Cromer, the director, had clearly decided that black comedies shouldn't be funny and somehow managed to drain much of the life and energy out of it. That said Edie Falco as Bananas gave one of her brilliant performances. She was also the sole Tony nominee - whilst the 1980s versions got eight nominations and four wins (not that Tonys count for much really).

Maybe it's not actually that great a play - and the 1980's production managed to paper over the cracks. Or maybe I was just young and had low expectations in my early theatregoing.

I saw the UK version too and can remember Kelly Hunter walking away with the show.