Well, my dear, have you heard about the fantastic plays on at The National?
I think I will have to watch 'Othello' at the cinema as, understandably, there are no tickets left.
However, we did manage to get in to see 'Strange Interlude' with the amazing Anne-Marie Duff as Nina in this 1928 play by Eugene O'Neil. She is, in my opinion, one of the best actors of her generation. ( Her St Joan was one of the highlights of a lifetime of theatre going.)
Many interesting questions to consider- would the love of a simple but devoted man make up for the trauma of losing one's fiancé at the very end of the 1st World War? Would hereditary insanity still be a closely guarded family secret and a wife urged to take a love in order to conceive a child? Should duty prevail over love ? Questions to consider; as valid now as then.
The following night, to 'Amen Corner' - a new play by James Baldwin. Very different, obviously, in production style and content but a vibrant and memorable performance. Marianne Jean-Baptiste in the lead as the hardline leader of a Harlem church. Again, a woman driven to do what she felt was right, to do her duty whatever it cost her in terms of her happiness and status - even if, in the end, she had lost the most important things in her life. Her downfall was to fall foul of those who decided her way was too rigid so, At the curtain, it was an 'interesting' decision to decide whether to applaud enthusiastically the brilliant portrayal of the leader of the conspiracy or to boo for her part in the palace revolution!
It's great to have so much enjoyment and so much to think about. Theatre has to be the best art form!
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