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| Taken from Google Images |
Writer- Annie Baker
Theatre- Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, London
Running Dates- final performance November 23rd
Running Times- approx 2 hours with no interval
Cast- Arthur Darvill, Conleth Hill, Imogen Doel and Bill Milner
Genre- New Writing
Rating- 4/5 stars
Plot
Following acclaimed runs of The Flick and John, Pulitzer Prize-winner Annie Baker returns to the National Theatre with her latest extraordinary play. Their phones switched off, a group of people sit around a table telling, categorising and theorising stories. This is a world that is both familiar and fantastical. Their real purpose is never quite clear, but they continue on, searching for the monstrous. The Antipodes asks what value stories have for a world in crisis. ‘One of the freshest voices in American theatre.’ New York Times
Taken from the National Theatre Website
Opinions
I'll be honest, before going to see it, I knew nothing about it. I only decided to go and see it because it Arthur Darvill in it and it sounded vaguely interesting. I don't think not knowing much about it impacted my viewing at all as it's the sort of play that you want to go into not knowing much about.
If you are the type of person that is very invested in plots rather than characters, I would say this isn't the play for you. Personally, I go either way, as long as it's well written. I have a feeling that this play might be a marmite play, you either love it or you hate it. I feel that I fall into the former category. I heard a lot of people saying that they weren't the biggest fan of it due to the fact it didn't really tell a story, however, I also heard people saying they enjoyed the lack of structure. I'd like to see more plays like this as it was an enjoyable experience.
I really enjoyed how it discussed the theme of writing and how to approach stories. I did agree with a lot of what was being said. It is hard to come up with new ideas when it feels like we are running out of ideas. Originally isn't what it used to be. I also found it a really interesting study on writers room and gender within them. The whole play has a cast of around ten, and only two of the actors are female. It was a well-written social piece and I would happily go see something similar to it again.
One of the main things I enjoyed was how well acted it was. You got a very clear sense of what every character was like very quickly. For example, Arthur Darvill's character came across as a very stereotypical male who thinks they are the smartest person in the room. Through Darvill's performance, this came across very clearly to the audience. Usually with large ensemble casts, you can tell who is supposed to be the lead actor. But within this production, it felt very balanced. Each actor brought something to their character and it was a pleasant experience getting to watch them bring this play to life.
Now that I've seen it, I would love to read the script. I would also love to see more of Annie Baker's plays as, like I've mentioned a million times, I really enjoyed this one.
Carenza x
