The Real Thing - Old Vic
Pro reviewers average
2013-05-22
| No pro reviewer has rated this show yet |
| Dipen Jobanputra |
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You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes – you get what you need.
I didn’t need this.
Or maybe I did, after all to date all the shows I have seen have been good or great.
This was bad. Not Michael Jackson bad. Just plain old going into the kitchen, turning on the gas and walking out waiting for a bang bad; sorry Mum I was only four but you really should have let me watch my cartoons.
How the Telegraph gave it five stars I don’t know and the lesson learned is that critics are full of shit.
It was not the play, Tom Stoppard is a great writer and I try to see anything that he has written. I had high hopes for what was a semi autobiographical play covering the period of his life where his marriage broke down. But what should have been a great view into a man’s life and a study in honesty and getting what you want fell flat. It was actually pushed over.
The issue was the cast, they could not act. If this was a local community centre you would have clapped loudly and shouted bravo – because you would not want to look like a pontificating wanker amongst your neighbours. However this was a performance at The Old Vic that people paid good money for, and I am a pontificating wanker.
Credit where credit is due, Toby Stephens was the shows saving grace and gave a great performance, both looking and acting the part. However the rest of the cast were weak and annoying. Overacting in some parts and no acting ability being shown in others.
During the interval I contemplated leaving – but the elderly gentleman behind me told me in a very kind voice that whilst the acting was subpar the story would get better in the second half. It did but the annoying voice of Annie / Hattie was just too much.
Aside from the acting….the set looked really slick… Arggh, I just can not think about this play any more - it just hurts too much.....
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| Andy Whitehouse |
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Overview, Cast and Creatives
