Weird evening
That’s all I wrote in my log.
I’m not too sure what made the evening weird.
We ate at Fung Shing afterwards, as planned, that I do know. Which was a return to the “scene of the crime” from the Z/Yen Christmas do a few week’s earlier…
I guess neither of us quite got our heads around The Chairs. You need to be in the mood for Ionesco and perhaps we weren’t.
This version was Martin Crimp’s adaptation and Simon McBurney/Théâtre de Complicité’s production, so weirdness was probably very much the order of the evening. Richard Briers and Geraldine McEwan led the cast. Here is the Theatricalia entry for the production.
“What did the papers say about it?” I hear you cry.
Charles Spencer in The Telegraph liked it, while denying that we should read too much into the piece – darned right!
26 Nov 1997, Wed The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard said it is the “weirdest French farce of them all”, making my simply “weird” comment more understandable.
25 Nov 1997, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Michael Billington in The Guardian thought the production brilliant:
Chairs Billington Guardian 25 Nov 1997, Tue The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com