July 1/13
At the Almeida Theatre, London. Written by Lucy Kirkwood. Directed by Lyndsey Turner. Set by Es Devlin. Lighting by Tim Lutkin. Sound by Carolyn Downing. Video by Finn Ross. Costumes by Christina Cunningham. Starring: Claudie Blakley, Elizabeth Chan, Trevor Cooper, Nancy Crane, Sean Gilder, David K.S. Tse, Benedict Wong.
A huge play with complex stories but in the end it’s about a photograph and how we see one thing, interpret it another way, and eventually realize the truth that leaves you breathless.
This is the play of the moment. Sold out at the Almeida and moving to the West End at the end of the month. It’s about east/west relations. How one misunderstands the other. It’s about a photograph of a lone man standing in front of a tank that is barreling down on him. in Tiannamen Square in Beijing, and he won’t move. In the play the photographer comes back years later to find out what happened to the guy. He is obsessed. He implicates friends. He gets to the truth. When we realize who the man is, in Lucy Kirkwood’s remarkable play—of fiction—the reaction is jaw dropping. The play is gripping, twists your guts with emotion and leaves you drained in the best possible way.
Wonderful.
Tomorrow: PASSION PLAY (not the wonderful one by Sarah Ruhl, done in Toronto–) No Peter Nichols’ play (1980) about adultery, guilt, grieving and lust. Passion has little do to with it.