In truth, I remember little detail about this piece. My impressionistic memory of it is that we found the piece impenetrable and sensed that Miller was, sadly, well past his prime when he wrote it. I didn’t write anything positive or negative about it in my log…which is a tad negative.
We leapt in early and saw a preview on 22 July.
Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this production. The production toured subsequently.
Susannah Clapp compared it unfavourably with the Steppenwolf production that was touring at the same time.
Article from 30 Jul 2000 The Observer (London, Greater London, England)
David Benedict slammed the piece directly in the Independent:
Article from 27 Jul 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England)
While Kete Bassett Telegraphed her antipathy in the ehadline:
Article from 28 Jul 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England)
Nicholas de Jongh gave it a dreaded Standard blob rating, with words of damnation and occasional faint praise:
Article from 27 Jul 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England)
Would our friend, Michael Billington, rescue this one with his trademark kindness and positivity? The almost unheard of two star review says, “no”.
Article from 28 Jul 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England)
Even Arthur Miller, even the Almeida (which was terrific back then) could muster the occasional dud and this was one of those.
Janie and I quietly agreed that we’d think twice before again booking to see plays written by great writers once they were quite so deep into their dotage.
