Tag: Paul Ready

In The Republic Of Happiness by Martin Crimp, Royal Court Theatre, 22 December 2012

Janie and I can do weird.

Janie and I can do Martin Crimp.

Janie and I can do Martin Crimp weird…

…but this one was just the wrong side of weird for us. Think impenetrable.

Super cast and beautifully produced, but what the blithering heck was it about?

Here is a link to the Royal Court Resource for this play/production.

Below is the trailer for the piece:

On the whole the critics didn’t get it either – here is a link to a search term that finds the reviews.

I have a copy of the play if anyone wants to seek enlightenment from reading that, let me know. I challenge you.

Tucked into my copy of the play is a short script for something else – I think it is a sample from one of Simon David’s pieces – quite impenetrable without context – clearly it was that sort of night.

Wastwater by Simon Stephens, Royal Court Theatre, 2 April 2011

We do both like a bit of Simon Stephens. We’re also partial to Linda Basset’s acting. This piece reminded us why on both counts.

We actually thought it was brilliantly acted and produced throughout.

Here is a link to the Royal Court resource on this play/production.

Three seemingly different stories that sort-of overlap and sort-of don’t. It’s hard to explain why, but Simon Stephens has a way with drama that simply keeps you gripped and thinking throughout.

Here is a very interesting behind the scenes short film from Sky Arts, including interviews with Simon Stephens, Linda Basset and several of the other cast and creatives, about Wastwater:

Royal Court – Wastwater from daniel bougourd on Vimeo.

Here is a link to a search term for reviews and other resources. The reviews are not universally great – some rated it very good, some rated it poor and cold-hearted.

We rated it very highly.