By gosh was I pleased when I learnt that my local, The Gate Theatre in Notting Hill, was to put on this play. Some years earlier, I had bought a book of European plays in translation and had read this play, along with some narrative about it, with a mixture of fascination and wonderment. Part of my wonderment was thinking about how on earth the play might be performed, but I suspected at the time that I would never see the piece in production.
Unlike my “how on earth might this play be performed?” musings, it worked remarkably well in this imaginative production in the Gate’s small-scale, theatre-above-a-pub environment. The Gate has reliably been extremely good at doing this sort of thing over the years.
Superb…
…was my single word verdict, which summed it up for both me and Janie.
Our friend, Michael Billington, gave a similar verdict in The Guardian, lauding performers Sean Gallagher and Jenny Quayle, plus translator Thomas Fisher in particular:
Billington Guardian Outside 18 Jun 1998, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Susannah Clapp gave it a glowing and quite lengthy review in the Observer, especially praising the director, Gordon Anderson and the designer, Jane Singleton:
Clapp Observer Outside 1 of 2 21 Jun 1998, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Clapp Observer Outside 2 of 2 21 Jun 1998, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Nick Curtis in the Standard, on the other hand, found it all far too bleak for his liking:
Curtis Standard Outside 18 Jun 1998, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
While John Gross gave it a short but sweet review in The Sunday Telegraph:
Gross Sunday telegraph Outside 28 Jun 1998, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com