8 replies to this topic

[yvonne johnson]

Mark Rylance, as Johnny "Rooster" Byron, is magnificent and I (along with most) couldn't take my eyes off his performance. Mackenzie Crook commands the same. I think this is one of the best, luscious stage sets I've seen--you really feel you are outside a trailer in the woods. What's it about? Jez Butterworth’s play is hard to pin down. About England's lack of myth today? The underdog's finger on the pulse?

Higgins in the Guardian writes:

"I find Butterworth's vision of Englishness so compelling is the way it plays with other texts. The action is set on St George's Day, 23 April, and that, of course, is a thumping great clue to lead us to Shakespeare (birthday: 23 April). Byron (that name is another great big literary signpost, of course) is Falstaff to his chaotic band of hangers-on: a rogue, a dishevelled hero, a triumphant force of nature (but remember what happens to Sir John in Henry V). The wood in which he lives is a kind of Forest of Arden, where those cast out of civilisation (or, as it may be, the "new estate") can find some solace and a place to play (but there are also shades of the forest of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a troubling labyrinth in which the unwary may lose themselves). Perhaps, too, there is also a touch of the Prospero about Byron, though a Prospero infused with the spirit of Caliban."

The Music Box is a lovely, small theatre. First time.

Guardian.
NYT
Bloomberg
London Times

[Wilfrid]

I read a review yesterday in the New Yorker, similarly positive. May have to get along and see this.

[StephanieL]

Very intense, though Act III tended to plod on a bit. A good chunk of the dialogue was unintelligible, due I think to a combination of poor acoustics/undermiking and some actors rushing their lines (a particular issue with the American cast members).

[yvonne johnson]

That's such a shame, Stephanie. We didn't have that problem at all. I wonder if the performers are tired?

[Rail Paul]

The sound at Jerusalem was good when we saw the play, but I'd agree that a few performers rushed their lines.

I believe this play runs through mid-August.

[StephanieL]

I was sitting in the middle of the mezzanine--maybe the sound is better in the orchestra?

[yvonne johnson]

Maybe, we were in the left orch. Who knows.

But when I went back to see Arcadia, G and I were up in the mezz and it sounded much better than it had around a couple of weeks in the orch.

Tough.

[Sneakeater]

I don't think a theater has yet been invented where the sound is better in the orchestra than the mezzanine. I doubt it's physically possible.

[Lippy]

I didn't take any chances. I swallowed my pride and rented the infrared hearing device, which worked perfectly.