Con’s Score: 3.5 scratches
A famous old film script has drawn the attention of a famous actress , Gillian Anderson Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, The Fall, NT Live: A Streetcar Named Desire) and a younger one, Lily James (Downton Abbey, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) for this West End production, directed by Ivo von Hove.
The story has become a perennial one. Ageing legend, Margo Channing, takes pity on a young innocent, Eve, who grows and matures, but isn’t quite what she appears to be, and over takes her mentor. It’s a challenge Anderson has probably faced herself.
There’s always so much to savour in these productions. Hove uses a roving camera and screen to get into discrete parts of the stage, and he uses the dressing room mirror inventively. Theatre critics hated the overt use of camera, but in this theatre-movie hybrid it works excellently, and the shifting imagery is quite clever. What isn’t is the over use of the kitchen, while the main stage is left bare during the party scene. It stifles the mood, even if the camera takes us into the nooks and crannies of the stage.
Hove says was attracted by the script and avoided replicating the movie, but somehow he ends up doing just that. Anderson plays a regal diva. Lithe, lovely and loveabley loathsome. They’re hard not to love when they’re so good. I wish Anderson played the character her way, instead of channelling Bette Davis, but she’s still as red hot as her hair. Lily Davis is exceptional as Eve. She goes from innocent to predator quite smoothly.
The support cast is good; Stanley Townsend as the reviewer is reminiscent of Weinstein, and Shiela Reid is witty. Monica Dolan as our narrator isn’t as convincing, but the leads are hard to match. What really works are the character transitions of Margo and Eve. The story hangs on them, as they toy with our loyalties. These two show how it’s done.
Con Nats – On The Screen
