What starts as a look at modern-day paranoia around terrorism turns into a sometimes
sinister drama about communication and how well we know our own families in JC Lee's
Luce. Liberal American couple Amy (Mel Giedroyc) and Peter (Nigel Whitmey)
adopted an orphaned seven-year-old boy from an unnamed, war-torn African country.
Many of the kids adopted in the scheme were traumatised and had major behavioural
problems, but Amy and Peter were lucky - Luce (Martins Imhangbe,) now 17, has been a
model son and his school's star pupil. But when one of his teachers, Harriet
(Natasha Gordon,) sets her class an essay that asks them to "think outside the box"
and imagine themselves as a historical figure at a significant moment, she's
disturbed when Luce chooses an obscure 1970s terrorist. She searches his locker and
finds dangerous, illegal fireworks, but as Luce has an otherwise unblemished record
she doesn't inform the police, instead inviting Amy to discuss what she's
discovered.
Writing down what I think about theatre I've seen in That London, whether I've been asked to or not.
Showing posts with label Dick Bird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dick Bird. Show all posts
Monday, 14 March 2016
Monday, 27 April 2015
Theatre review: Ah, Wilderness!
The Young Vic website describes Ah, Wilderness! as "Eugene O'Neill's most delightful play," a field that with the best will in the world can't have that many runners in it. Elsewhere I've seen the blunter "Eugene O'Neill's only intentional comedy." It is a surprisingly sweet affair though, something of a love letter not just to a particular woman in the playwright's life, but to young love itself. It's the Fourth of July and an extended New England family gather at the home of local newspaper editor Nat Miller (Martin Marquez.) The obvious stand-in for a young O'Neill is the middle son, George MacKay's Richard, a likeably recognisable emo teenager in Natalie Abrahami's modern-dress production. Fond of reading the works of European playwrights and poets like Wilde and Shaw - much to the concern of his mother Essie (Janie Dee) - Richard has been sending overwrought love letters to a local girl. When her father catches on, he order her to break it off immediately.
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