Tag: Lolly Susi

Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman, Royal Court Theatre, 3 November 2001

We rated this one:

…excellent.

Memorable too, in its creepiness. Yet it somehow Boy Gets Girl doesn’t seem to have hit the radar of the enduring drama canon. The Wikipedia entry at the time of writing this (October 2026) doesn’t even mention the Royal Court production, just the original production in Chicago.

We were treated to a terrific cast for the Royal Court production: Demetri Goritsas and Katrin Cartlidge in the lead roles. Fine support from Nicholas Day, Jason Watkins, Lucy Punch, Karl Johnson, and Lolly Susi – directed by Ian Rickson.

Nicholas de Jongh rated it highly in the Standard:

Boy Gets de Jongh Standard Boy Gets de Jongh Standard 8 Nov 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer was taken by the production and the ideas in it more than the play itself:

Boy Gets Spencer Telegraph Boy Gets Spencer Telegraph 9 Nov 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, also has some reservations about the play but praises the end result at the Royal Court highly:

Boy Gets Billington Guardian Boy Gets Billington Guardian 8 Nov 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Stalking is a discomforting and difficult topic – perhaps that fact, more than anything else, explains why this piece has somewhat vanished from view in the quarter-of-a-century since.

Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, Donmar Warehouse, 17 June 2000

Really good.

That’s what I wrote in my log. And I meant it.

I had previously seen Peter Hall’s excellent 1988 production of Orpheus Descending, with Vanessa Redgrave, Jean-Marc Barr and other fine acting folk:

Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, Theatre Royal Haymarket, With Jilly, Followed By Annalisa’s Party, 10 December 1988

Janie is especially partial to a bit of Tennessee Williams. Although I suspected that I would not be seeing a better production that the one I saw in 1988. the lure of Helen Mirren and Saskia Reeves was enough for me. Also involved, a young Stuart Townsend in the male lead, a yet-to-fall-foul-of-my-displeasure Nick Hytner directing, ably assisted by a young Josie Rourke.

Our friend, Michael Billington, was quite impressed:

Orpheus Billington Guardian

Article from 28 Jun 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England)

Paul Taylor described Hytner’s production as “powerful, if over-emphatic”:

Orpheus Taylor Independent

Article from 28 Jun 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England)

Kate Bassett wrote well of it in the Telegraph:

Orpheus Bassett Telegraph

Article from 29 Jun 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England)

Nicholas de Jongh described Hytner’s production as “staid”, but still rated the experience “very good”:

Orpheus de Jongh Standard

Article from 28 Jun 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England)

I wrote “really good”, not “very good”. I wonder whether the LLMs detect a difference between those two ratings?