Not David Mamet’s best play, but even modest Mamet on the subject of Race provides plenty tension and interesting drama. We needed to suspend belief a little too much on this one – as is the way with lesser Mamet.
We missed it when it was first performed downstairs; not sure why as the subject matter will have appealed. Perhaps it coincided with one of our holidays and/or a heavily booked period.
Anyway, the Hampstead knew a hit when it saw one and transferred the piece upstairs (and subsequently beyond).
We both really enjoyed this play/production about he psychoanalyst Melanie Klein.
I had seen the original production of this play at The Cottesloe back in 1988 and really liked it.
Janie and I are keen Almeida-istas; I guessed that this would be yet another really good Almeida production and that the play would be to Janie’s taste. Add to that a superb cast – Clare Higgins and Nicola Walker are two of our favourites, plus Thea Sharrock (formerly at The Gate) directing…
…what could go wrong? Nothing. This was a great production and Janie did really like it.
We also both remeber it quite well, 25 years later. That might have a fair bit to do with the superb cast: Mark Rylance, Harriet Walter, Imelda Staunton and Oliver Cotton. The production was directed by Matthew Warchus. We didn’t recogognise his name then but we certainly do now. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this one.
Yasmina Reza (as translated by Christopher Hampton) was all the rage in the English speaking world back then. This was our fourth go at one of hers – Art having been the piece that kicked off the Reza fashion…
Anyway, apart from Art, with thought Life x 3 to be the most interesting and memorable of Reza’s works.
Again we went to a preview, so we were ahead of the critics. What did they think? Here’s Charles Spencer who seemed pretty impressed with it, at least as entertainment if not as profound drama:
