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Photo by Don Kellogg

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Old Times

I'm going zero for two here.  This time a 70 minute Harold Pinter play.  I'm all for a mysterious and mesmerizing evening in the theatre, but this play is just flat out obtuse.

The all-British cast (Clive Owen, Eve Best, Kelly Reilly) may add allure and mystery with their fancy accents, but they do nothing for the confounding plot.  I mean it was purposely written to confound and leave the average viewer with a feeling they have no idea what just happened.   I can verify this as I left the American Airlines Theatre and listened to at least 90% of the audience as they shook their head and asked questions like "what just happened here?".  Not being satisfied with these remarks, I went home and read the Wikipedia page about the show and was astounded at what the "experts" purported was going on.  Really?  Was that what we just saw?

Kudos to Christine Jones (sets) and Japhy Weideman (lighting).

I'm all for hoity-toity theatre but this was work neither entertaining nor satisfying for the majority of the audience.  I hope the rest of your 50th Anniversary season is better than this, Roundabout.