In truth, I don’t remember all that much about this production. I’ve long been partial to a bit of Anouilh, which would have been the main reason we booked it.
Excellent cast, including Orlando Seale, Edward de Souza, Desmond Barrit, Ray Llewellyn, Roz McCutcheon, Amy Marston, Susan Tracy & Geoffrey Beevers.
Janie and I see a lot of theatre and on the whole go to see productions that we find good or very good. But just occasionally we see something that is a cut above and is truly memorable as one of the best productions we have ever seen.
That is how my memory (25 years later) recalls this adaptation/production of The Life Of Galileo and my log from the time registers the simple phrase, “excellent production”.
Yes, yes, yes! We thought this was a really, really good night at the theatre.
I’d long been a Pinter fan. Janie wasn’t really familiar with his work, but Janie made the running for this night at the Almeida, booking us the front row seats we craved for that place (still do) and jotting down all the details. 90 minutes without an interval. Seats A7 & A8.
This play/production was our first sighting of Pinter together.
I think we ran into Ivan Shakespeare again that night; volunteering for the Almeida selling programmes.
Michael Billington’s review was on the front page of the Guradian – how often does that happen? Along with a luvvie-fest piece (I’m glad we weren’t there that night and a continuation on Page 18.
Also in the Guardian, an Anna Massey interview about Moonlight. Anna Massey went on to become one of Janie’s regular clients, but Janie didn’t yet know her when we saw Moonlight.
Eurydice Spencer Telegraph 15 Jul 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Eurydice Cavendish Indy 14 Jul 1999, Wed The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Eurydice Billington Guardian 14 Jul 1999, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
