A short dystopian piece about lives in a gated community in some future or remote authoritarian place. Here is a link to The Gate’s stub on this piece.
We have done this sort of play on a Friday evening at The Gate before (and since), because it is sometimes so convenient to see them and stay at the flat on a Friday, but heavy/dystopian drama is not my first choice of activity for a Friday night.
Anyway, beyond our temporal reasons for being unsure about it, the critics also seemed unsure:
- Ian Shuttleworth in the FT really didn’t like it – click here;
- Lyn Gardner in the Guardian liked it better – click here;
- Time Out felt the play had ideas above its station – click here.
The acting was top notch and as always we marvel at the way they manage to turn that small space above a pub into a proper space for drama. But Janie and I concurred with the reviewers about the play.
Not sure whether I cooked or whether we grabbed some Turkish food from the (now late, lamented) Manzara. As I’d delivered my Gresham lecture the night before and (it seems) gone off early on the Friday morning to see clients, I’ll guess the latter and jolly tasty it will have been too.