Another collection of Pinter shorts at the lovely Harold Pinter theatre.
Landscape: A quiet woman relates the fantasy of a loveing relationship that runs in her head whilst her controlling and abusive partner shouts at her across the room. Tamsin Grieg's still detachment during this really portrays the inner dialogue taking place whilst Keith Allen's character shouts, screams and prowls around her. Beautiful acting of a clever piece of overlapped story.
Apart from That: A curious slice of phone conversation just like you catch every day on the bus, on the tube or just in the street.
Girls: A remarkable piece performe dby Tom Edden. Funny, un-nerving and politically so incorrect but very insightful. Really beautifully put over and a complete change of pace.
That's All: A strange, funny, filler of a piece.
God's District: Meera Syal at her best. A lovely monologue, funny but worryingly realistic as an American bible basher, over in the UK tosave souls, completely misunderstands her environment.
Monologue: Lee Evans does this piece exceptionally well, even taking in the tremendous storm we could hear outside the theatre when he had to talk about the weather. A controlled performance.
That's Your Trouble: Two men arguing in a pub - funnier than it sounds!
Special Offer: Surreal sketch in which women are offered "men to buy" with a money back guarantee and a special discount for members of the BBC!
Trouble in the Works: So funny, especially for anyone who lived through the strike-prone 70's as the workers decide that the products are no longer something they want to be associated with. Fast and furious performances from Tom Edden and Lee Evans.
Night: Mis-remembered events between a loveing couple, a short sketch.
A Kind of Alaska: The real reason we bought tickets up to this matinee. A play I have seen a few times and directed once - it never fails to move me with its deep sadness. Based on real experiences when between 1915 and 1926 an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica spread around the world. Nearly five million people were affected, a third of whom died in the acute stages. Many of those who survived never returned to their pre-existing "aliveness" and of those who did many asked to be "puy back into sleep" as they couldn't cope. In this play, a 45 year old woman is awoken afetr 29 years - to her she is still 16 but she finds her sisters grown, her mother dead and the world nothing like the one she remembered. It is impossible not to be moved and Tamsin Grieg is brilliant in this.
A wonderful collection of Pinter's short works.
