SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewAttempts on Her Life
|
She's the kind of woman who believes the message written on the till receipts: Thank you for your custom.
---- Man |
Dina Korzun (on screen) with members of the company
(Photo: Stephen Cummiskey) |
Crimp's plays are often described as being very European due to their elliptical construction. They are demanding of the audience because they only show a framework of ideas not the complete picture but they are also powerful with images that stay with you.
Mitchell has chosen to stage the piece as a series of photographed, filmed, videoed scenes where the cast of actors are also cameramen, directors, sound recordists. The clue is on the front page of the poster advertising the play which shows a photograph of the American artist Nan Goldin who recorded the most intimate and mundane details of the lives of her friends as works of art. The effect of all this reportage does go well with Crimp's piece but it is intensely busy and at times I found myself watching the actor technicians at work rather than concentrating on the words being spoken.
All the self destructive tendencies of Anne or Annie or Anya or Anouska find the different female actors wearing a long red dress whether she is injecting herself with heroin or having unprotected sex with men with HIV. The car advertisement scene which starts as a list of assets and ends with exclusion of everything that is physically imperfect forms a parallel with the packaging and presentation of the woman. I liked the skit on the late night review programme with two actors impersonating the style and disagreements of the lucid feminist Germaine Greer, and the Oxford poet Tom Paulin, the latter who often seems to me to speak nonsense disguised as criticism.
Claudie Blakley, Kate Duchêne and Helena Lymbery are memorable as is Michael Gould and Zubin Varla. These are not just any actors but of the very highest calibre. Technically of course it has to be very slick as one scene switches to another and new cameras have to be in place. As Crimp does not allocate his lines to specific actors, this has to be done by the director who also credits the company with direction here. It probably was very involving for the company but maybe the audience was a little left out of the equation? It certainly feels distancing rather than encompassing.
At almost two hours without an interval, Attempts on Her Life conveys a whirl of media images and sounds, using different languages and text as subtitles on the filmed images. There is music from Abba with the witty artificed video camera shots which now look so silly, there is a pop group onstage close to the woman injecting with drugs scene. It is a global picture of those news items that fill our screens, wars, genocide, terrorism, advertisements and while it may stimulate some, for others there is too much information for anything coherent to emerge. I wonder whether more can be felt by reading Crimp's play than seeing it performed because the very motion left me dizzy rather than involved. Has Katie Mitchell given us distraction where concentration is needed?
To a review of a New York production,
go here
|
ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE
Written by Martin Crimp Directed by Katie Mitchell and the company With: Claudie Blakley, Kate Duchêne, Michael Gould, Liz Kettle, Jacqueline Kington, Dina Korzun, Helena Lymbery, Paul Ready, Jonah Russell, Zubin Varla, SandraVoe Design: Vicki Mortimer Lighting: Paule Constable Video: Leo Warner Choreographer: Donna Berlin Sound: Gareth Fry Music: Paul Clark Running time: Two hours with no interval Box Office: 020 7452 3000 Booking to 10th May 2007 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 14th March 2007 performance at the Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank London SE1 (Rail/Tube: Waterloo) |
|
London Theatre Tickets Lion King Tickets Billy Elliot Tickets Mary Poppins Tickets Mamma Mia Tickets We Will Rock You Tickets Theatre Tickets |
