★★★☆☆ The story of Mary Bryant is hardly a story for our time, capital punishment for what we might now call misdemeanours and commutability via transportation have gone the way of slavery and child labour . . .
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★★★★★ David Mamet’s 1992 play seems doomed to be perennially relevant. In Lucy Bailey’s clear and pulsating production at the Ustinov it’s clear to see why. Whatever Mr Mamet’s intention at the time of writing the play raises profound questions which do not rely on the, did he/didn’t he? puzzle of the real life drama.
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★★★★☆ The play could easily be titled Deceit and the multiple betrayals, which pop out like nested Russian dolls ultimately leave little in the way of scar tissue beyond a kind of irritated bafflement that certain things went on or, more irritatingly, were known about by the ‘injured parties’ who kept schtum. It shows a society which has thrown away the moral compass, at least as far as sexual manners is concerned, in light of a new moral landscape where ‘betrayal’ seems to be the norm
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The thoughts of GRAHAM WYLES on the future of the theatre, post lockdown.
Whilst writing this in lockdown mode (standard fare for writers) and idly speculating when the curtains might rise again, I wondered what differences, if any, we might see on that happy day. I’m not particularly thinking of the practicalities, complicated though they are likely to be, but rather the content or tenor of new writing . . .
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★★★☆☆ The original Faust myth, based on the historical person of Johann Faust, concerns a man who prefers earthly to religious knowledge and enters into a pact with the devil for unlimited knowledge and a fair dollop of earthly pleasure. Small surprise then that he has continued to be the inspiration of numerous artistic works.
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