Wow.
First off, it’s very long. The first half was 105 minutes, there was a 15 minute interval, and then the second half was 95 minutes. That’s as long as two feature films. There seems to be a trend towards longer and longer productions nowadays, as if the quantity could make up for the quality. In this case, I think the quantity is one of the few minuses. It’s a gruelling marathon. But the quality is of such an incredible standard that this makes it worth it.
Secondly, the trigger warnings. There is full male nudity on stage. There is self-harm and suicide. There is male rape. The theme is sexual abuse.
The plot concerns four young men, friends, in New York. One is a talented artist, one a talented architect, one a to-be-successful actor and one a young and upcoming lawyer. This is one of my few criticisms of the play: there are no ordinary people. Perhaps they don’t live in New York. Perhaps the cost of property in New York has scared away all the waiters and cleaners and electricians and plumbers and delivery drivers and ... At least the characters in ‘Friends’ were fairly normal, although it was never really explained how they could afford their lifestyles.
Three of the four young men also turn out to be gay, which is surely an unusual proportion.
The plot focuses on Jude. Jude has secrets. Why does he sometimes limp? Why does he cut himself? Very soon, too soon for it to be a spoiler, the audience (though not the other members of the cast) become aware that Jude was sexually abused as a boy, starting with when he was an orphan growing up in a monastery. It is Jude’s shame and guilt that leads him to hurt himself and has denied him a sex life as an adult. Despite the fact that every male around him loves him, including the other three mates and also his doctor and his legal mentor, he feels that if they knew his secrets they would hate him. And, of course, this being New York, the solution to his problems will lie in him talking about them. Only then will he be able to accept himself and move on. But he can’t.
And misery is heaped upon misery. I’m not sure all the sad things that happened were necessary. In the end, the author seemed to want to make the audience members suffer.
Furthermore, I’m not sure that I buy the idea (a basic premise of the plot) that if you talk about the bad things that happened in your past you will be able to forgive yourself. That your friends will still love you. I think it might be more truthful to have at least some of his friends reject him when they find out what has happened to him. They keep repeating that it wasn't his fault, he wasn’t to blame, but you would have thought that at least one of them would, at the denouement, blame him. If they hadn’t already rejected him because of his alienating behaviour while he was still in the secret phase.
I also didn’t understand the character of Ana, the only woman in the play, who repeatedly urged Jude to talk. Was she supposed to be a therapist? At one point she seemed to be a police officer, at another he suggested she was dead. Was she just a fantasised character, the representation of a conscience or a better angel, trying to get Jude to redeem himself? I’m not sure.
So I had reservations about the story. But I had no reservations whatsoever about the production. It was gripping. I was on the edge of my seat for most of it. I cringed and winced when Jude harmed himself even though I knew it was fake blood pouring down his arms. Too long? There were times when I thought the action could be abridged and then I thought again. For example, in one episode Jude is made to drink ten glasses of water, one after another. Cut to the chase, I thought. Do one and two and three ... and nine and ten. The audience will understand. But the tension crescendoed with each glass and, on reflection, I wouldn’t have lost even the smallest of them.
The actors were outstanding. I don’t know how James Norton, in the lead role, who is on stage throughout, and acting almost throughout, manages the physical demands of the role but he was more than just an endurance athlete, he played that role such that I was with Jude all the way. Not that he outshone the others. Every member of the cast gave a flawless performance; this is a play with eight stars. The only one to single out is Elliot Cowan who played three parts, all villains, and managed to make each one of them so different that I thought his third role was performed by one of the other actors until I checked the cast list. That’s kudos!
Another special word has to go to the production team who made me believe that Jude was cutting himself on stage. How on earth that was managed, I don’t know.
The camera operators were also brilliant. It was a live production on stage and somehow they managed to transform that into a cinema production without one duff shot.
It was exhausting and harrowing and challenging but an incredible experience. Unbelievable. Ten stars.
In the 2024 Olivier Awards, James Norton was nominated for Best Actor and Zubin Varla and Luke Thompson were both nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Comments
Post a Comment