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I recall us both rather liking this play, without being bowled over by it.
Some very clever writing and lots of issues to chew over afterwards. A good blend of family comedy/drama and global issues. Very Islington.
Here is a link to the Almeida resource for the play/production.
The trailer below is quite good:
The reviews were, deservedly, good but not great – click here for a search term link. As Woody Allen might have said, “it was a good play, not a great play…”
I’m pretty sure this is the first Nick Payne play we saw. I remember little about it, other than the fact that the play was pretty full on about sex and that, despite its unsubtleties, we came away with the impression that we wanted to see more of this writer, which indeed we did.
Here is a link to the Royal Court resource on the play/production.
The usual praise for the Royal Court’s production qualities whether upstairs or downstairs. Super cast too.
Here is a search term that will find you the reviews and stuff if you want a deeper dive.
I was really taken with this play and production by the excellent Bruce Norris, about racial tension in a Chicago neighbourhood across the generations. It is witty and thought provoking in equal measure, tackling difficult topics with clarity and sensitivity.
Superb cast and this style of play marries well with Dominic Cooke’s style of direction.
Janie liked it too, but was a little less impressed than me.
Here is the Royal Court resource on this play/production.
It got rave reviews, west end transfer, revivals and all sorts – deservedly so. So you need to look through the reviews in the following link – click here – with care and choose the ones dated around September 2010 to see reviews of the actual production we saw – but you might want to look at reviews generally – in which case dip away with reckless abandon.
I recall this one as being a bit Alan Aykbournish – a gang of thirty-somethings on retreat in the country for New Years eve. What could possibly go wrong?
A slight set of Royal Court details and links about this play/production can be found here.
We quite enjoyed it, while agreeing that we normally seek plays with a bit more oomph and have seen a lot of plays a bit like this one in our time.
Of course it was well acted and well produced – the Royal Court hardly ever misses one of those beats.
We enjoyed but were a bit disappointed by this one.
We had absolutely loved That Face, Polly Stenham’s first play, so had eagerly awaited this one for two years.
Tusk Tusk was another play about a dysfunctional family with an addled mother (absentee mother this time) and several wild kids as the result.
It felt a bit like more of the same to us, which was a shame because we (perhaps unreasonably) expected more from Polly Stenham on the back of her stunningly good first play.
Still, some excellent performances from the youngsters (this must have been the first time we saw the excellent Bel Powley, for example) and the usual Royal Court quality of production, even when the play is being done upstairs.
We saw the Saturday preview before press night.
Another weekend, another preview. I’m not sure what drew us to this one. Coincidentally we had seen some of Leo Butler’s work just a few week’s earlier in the young writers’ fest Cutting Through the Carnival…
…but I’m pretty sure we must have booked Redundant prior to seeing Carnival.
Anyway, Redundant was our first sighting of Leo Butler’s full length plays and we were mighty impressed if I remember correctly. Lyndsey Marshal starred and Dominic Cooke directed. It was grim, in many ways, yet tinged with humour and hope. Very Royal Court. Dominic Cooke must have rated Butler and this piece to put it on downstairs – a rare 21st century example of a debut on the main stage of the Royal Court. There is a coup de theatre in the play that required it, I suppose. Risky writing.
The Standard previewed it (after we had seen it) thusly:
Redundant Standard Preview 12 Sept 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
We didn’t see the shocking, late addition of an Osama Bin Laden mention, which dominated the press afterwards, by dint of seeing a preview prior to 11 September.
Patrick Marmion was seduced by the production, if not the character:
Redundant Marmion Standard 13 Sept 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
John Gross in The Sunday Telegraph wrote little, but was left feeling a little low by it:
Redundant Gross Sunday Telegraph 16 Sept 2001 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Susannah Clapp in The Observer deemed Leo Butler not quite reader for main stage exposure:
Redundant Clapp Observer 16 Sept 2001 The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Lynn Gardner in The Guardian was even more damning, awarding The Royal Court production a rare meagre two stars:
Redundant Gardner Guardian 14 Sept 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
It certainly didn’t displease us in that way – we noted Leo Butler as one to watch and watch him we did as he matured into a top notch playwright. Possibly if we saw this one again, we’d spot the youthful writing in it. A bit like Chekhov’s Platonov the week before.
