Old Times

[edjames]

SPOILER ALERT

OK, for those of you who may wish to see this production, you might want to skip my scathing review below.....

 

 

The Roundabout Co has revived Harold Pinter's 1971 play Old Times. Starring Clive Owen and Eve Best, this 70 minute "drama" is a real snooze fest. Horrible!

 

The whole experience begins as you enter the American Airlines theater and an atrocious new-age soundtrack is playing in the background. Chalk on a blackboard would have been more melodious!

 

The sparse set contains two divans and an armchair. A monolith of glass/plastic sits mid stage. The backdrop is a swirling design. The whole set is very gloomy and eerie.

 

Deeley and his wife Kate are visited by Anna, a mysterious friend of Kate’s from long ago, in their country home. What begins as a trip down memory lane quickly becomes a boring and tedious 70 minutes of mind numbing blah, bah , blah. I was so disappointed. the performances are good but not worthy of these actors. Pinter, once again, proves he is not worthy of the many accolades he is given. Noble prize indeed! Douglas Hodge (La Cage, Cyrano) directs....poorly.

 

I can also report that the audience must have felt the same as I did as no one stood and cheered. The curtain call applause was polite but not energetic or encouraging.

 

Thank God I saw this on a deeply discounted ticket! Perhaps others will enlighten me as to what I missed, or will they agree? Can't wait to read the reviews. This was an early preview but I doubt much will be done to improve it . Opens Oct 6.

 

ED

[+ beethoven]

If you hadn't said that the play is by Harold Pinter, my first comment would have been, "I bet this was a Pinter play."

[bostonman]

Douglas Hodge (La Cage, Cyrano) directs....poorly.

 

And tellingly, of course, the shows you mentioned were notable acting credits for Hodge, not with him as director. (And he's also done a fair amount of Pinter, but again, as an actor.) Indeed, maybe he should stay on the other side of the proscenium, lol. While I do think that it can be helpful for a director to also be an actor (because they have an actor's perspective on the craft), it doesn't mean that actors automatically make good directors.

 

I've heard a lot of disparaging comments on this production on another theatre site as well. Hard to know if the problem is specifically with Pinter, Hodge, or whatever - but there's not a lot of love for this production in any case.