05.17.06
Blackbird
I went to the TKTS ticket booth for half-price theatre tickets on Saturday and ended up buying tickets to Blackbird for myself, my boyfriend and our friend from New York. The play by David Harrower debuted at the Edinburgh Festival last year and this was the final night of its run at the Albery Theatre in the West End.
The play tackles the subject of child abuse and whether it is possible for a girl of twelve and a man of forty to have a ‘relationship’ or anything that’s slightly more complex that abuse. It’s certainly not pro-child abuse but it doesn’t shy away from presenting truth and raising thorny questions.
The acting was very good – Jodhi May’s voice annoyed me to begin with but I soon grew used to it. Roger Allam was very convincing as the older man. It was basically the two of them for most of the play and they carried it very well.
The setting – a rubbish-strewn locker room on an industrial estate somewhere in England – was perfect. Despite the simplicity of the set, it was very versatile with the chairs and garbage providing great props for particular points in the dramatic action.
I thought the play was going to end once or twice before it actually did and I’m not sure what the point was of the final scene in the carpark but overall it was a great theatrical experience. It kept me entertained and it made me think and you can’t ask for more than that.
