The Power Of Yes by David Hare, Lyttelton Theatre, 17 October 2009

We were not overly impressed with this play.

David Hare is very good at burrowing around all manner of interesting topics, but I suspect he was too far away from his spheres of knowledge and understanding with the financial crisis.

Hare almost admits as much, as the narrator of the play is a somewhat perplexed author.

So to me, Hare was making the obvious points about the financial crisis well enough, but there was little dramatic tension and no new insight in the piece.

Janie liked it a bit more than i did, but I suspect that she got more out of it, being less steeped in the financial crisis in the first place.

I’m glad we saw it, but this is second division work from a first division playwright. There was little a good cast and production could do to save it.

 

The Blue Ball by Paul Godfrey, Cottesloe Theatre, 13 May 1995

I damned this one with faint praise.

Quite good.

That’s not so good.

It was about astronauts, their lives, moon shots & stuff. I found it interesting but it didn’t work as drama for me. Janie was less interested in the subject matter but quite enjoyed the play in the round. (Did you see what I did there?).

Paul Godfrey wrote and directed it. It might have been tighter if he had let another director tweak and interpret a bit.

The Theatricalia entry for this play/production can be found here.

Michael Billington’s praise in the Guardian was even fainter than mine:

Billington on BallBillington on Ball Sat, Apr 1, 1995 – 30 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

While Michael Coveney was a bit kinder:

Coveney on Ball 1 of 2Coveney on Ball 1 of 2 Sun, Apr 2, 1995 – 77 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com Coveney on Ball 1 of 2Coveney on Ball 1 of 2 Sun, Apr 2, 1995 – 77 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com