Tag: Young Vic Theatre

Foe by J M Coetzee, Young Vic Theatre, 4 May 1996

We loved Complicité, (or Théâtre de Complicité as it was then known) back then. This joint production with West Yorkshire Playhouse at the Young Vic was perhaps not their best work.

It is based on a J M Coetzee novel which is basically a sequel to Robinson Crusoe.

We found it impenetrable.

It seems we weren’t alone with that feeling. Michael Billington reviewed it thusly:

Billington on FoeBillington on Foe Sat, Mar 9, 1996 – 28 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Coveney got on with Foe a bit better it seems:

Coveney on FoeCoveney on Foe Sun, Mar 17, 1996 – 71 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

A Touch Of The Poet by Eugene O’Neill, Comedy Theatre, 26 March 1988

Not one of Eugene O’Neill’s greatest plays, but my log suggests that Bobbie and I both found this production very good…

…and why shouldn’t we. Vanessa Redgrave & Timothy Dalton, with support from Amanda Boxer, Malcolm Tierney and several other good names. David Thacker directed it.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

This was, in fact, a West End transfer of a much-lauded Young Vic production; the UK premier of this play. Bobbie and I couldn’t get in at the Young Vic but got in early during the transfer, so saw the original Young Vic cast/production.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on this lesser-known O’Neill play.

A rarity for a production of this antiquity, I have managed to find a review by Frederick Wilkins in The Eugene O’Neill Newsletter – dated Spring 1988 – which reviews the Young Vic production at both of its locations.

(Just in case anything ever happens to that Newsletter, I have scraped that fascinating review to here)

Michael Ratcliffe’s review is clipped below:

Michael Ratcliffe On CatMichael Ratcliffe On Cat Sun, Feb 7, 1988 – 26 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Billington admired the piece thus:

Billington on PoetBillington on Poet Thu, Feb 4, 1988 – 14 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

I wonder what Bobbie remembers of that production and that evening?

Postscript: a couple of days before I got to this piece, to add the clips, in January 2020, I ran into Vanessa in Speck. Small world.