On paper, this appeared to be a seriously hot ticket. So seriously hot we booked to see the first Friday preview. Antony Sher wrote it, Greg Doran directed it, Roger Allam starred in it…
…what’s not to like?
Well, in truth we didn’t like it at all. The plot revolves around the Florentine story of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo competing for the same sculpture commission. The play might have been fine art’s equivalent of Amadeus – I suspect that’s what Sher had in mind, but we found the piece laboured, pretentious and dull.
We didn’t stick around after the interval for the second half of the play.
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:
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:
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.
A fine cast, including Jane Arnfield, Louise Bush, Paul Higgins, Michelle Joseph, Veronica Roberts, John Ramm, Simon Trinder, Al Nedjari, and Gary Lilburn, directed by Mike Alfreds.
Our friend, Michael Billington, was not so impressed, praising the acting but not the play, awarding a rare, mere, two stars:
I guess we could fall for “the oldest of reactionary canards” occasionally, especially when we went to the theatre after an early Friday evening supper at Harry Morgans.
The following day we went to Kim’s birthday party, which would for sure have lightened our mood after that dark play.
