06 March 2008

A Prayer for my Daughter by Thomas Babe

Kelly - Matthew - Marsh
Jack - Corey Johnson
Jimmy - Colin Morgan
Sean - Sean Chapman

Directed by Dominic Hill
Designed by Giles Cadle

Seen during it's run at the Young Vic. Started off in the middle of the second row but it was too close and too cramped so I moved the more spacious 10th row. Loved seeing it from two different perspectives and loved seeing Peter McDonald in the audience


Some very diverse performances here and a totally cohesive cast. I'm not absolutely sure that this play arrives successfully at it's final destination or whether the journey there is a well formed as it should be but the dialogue is great and certainly good enough to hold the attention.

It was a piece of luck that I moved back to a row with some discernible legroom because, lovely though Mr Morgan might be, I'm not sure I would have wanted to be quite that close when he was proving his lack of substance concealment. He couldn't conceal his weapon and he would put Harry Potter and Alfie Allen to shame for his sustain alone. There were a load of students who were all asked to sit over one side and to their sorrow, he never turned around for them and I don't blame him.

I've enjoyed seeing Matthew Marsh twice lately and I shall watch out for him in future. He has a slight tick thing he does but he really can carry a fully motored speech.

The staging was like Landscape With Weapon where the action take place between two banks of audience. I hated that for LWW because it was such a bright, reflective stage that I was constantly aware of the other people. It makes it very hard to lose yourself in the performance when you can see your fellow punters. In tonight's play, the problem wasn't so bad because it was a dim set in a very dim theatre. As we entered, regular visitors were asked to sit over the far side and the near side was reserved for students and freebies. I felt that much of the action was played in favour of the far side (my side) so I may have had a totally different take on the piece if I had seen it on another night in a different seat.

Another bonus is that the evening went like clockwork. Left home in my car after Connie Time and parked in my secret freebie space behind Leicester Square. Jenny Seagrove parked right in front of me with her little lap-dog on her way to Absurd Person Singular. Nipped over to the half price booth and got my ticket for £13 and since it's unreserved seating, it didn't matter that I was so late in the day. Jumped back in the car and parked almost outside the Young Vic. Perfect.