Tom Murphy’s The House is big play with some clever ideas, but not quite enough to fill its somewhat extended run time. In fact, the first half of the play, as Murphy tries to settle into his groove, seems to run nearly forever – to the point where, sitting in my seat, I was starting to wonder if the actors had simply forgotten there was supposed to be an intermission. The second half, however, is much stronger and much more tightly focused. While the production itself is nothing less than impressive, one wonders if an editor might have been well-suited to take a hacksaw to Murphy’s script, or perhaps director Annabelle Comyn might have cut down on the staring into middle-distance.
House that now?
Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: abbey theatre, Alison Croggon, arts, Australia, Bunty, Canberra, Downton Abbey, dublin, england, house, Ireland, Irish American, Irish diaspora, London, Murphy, Performing Arts, Public Broadcasting Service, Theatre, United States | 2 Comments »
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