A heartbreaking, true story.
Joan Didion wrote a memoir about her double-loss – first her husband and then her daughter. This is her one woman play based on that memoir. Vanessa Redgrave plays Joan.
We found it moving, although the critics tended to be equivocal in their praise and in their sense that the production moves as much as it should:
- Paul Taylor in the Independent wasn’t sure about it – click here;
- Susannah Clapp in the Observer found the piece problematic but is more positive about it – click here;
- Michael Billington in the Guardian suggests that the Lyttelton is the wrong place for a one woman show – I agree – click here.
The audience went a bit Vanessa-sycophantic at the end, which always tends to irritate us a bit, but then she is one heck of an actress.