York Grand Opera House – until Saturday 7th May 2022
Review by Zoe Giles
3***
This Stage production is directed by Loveday Ingram, written by James Dearden and based on the classic paramount film starring Glenn Close alongside Michael Douglas.
The main trio this time are played by Oliver Farnworth of Coronation Street fame and Hollyoaks who takes on the roll of Dan – father, husband and cheat, Susie Amy plays Alex the temptress or is she just vulnerable and lonely? Her work includes Footballers Wives and Hollyoaks. Finally Louise Redknapp originally from the band Eternal this time plays Dan’s wife Beth the homemaker and betrayed woman.
Act one starts with Dan, played by Oliver Farnworth, talking to the audience (something he does throughout the production on several occasions) about how his life has changed since meeting Alex the temptress and how she has set out to destroy him.
The set is basic but extremely clever as it is in part see through so can be used to set a different scene at the same time so for example when they are supposed to be talking to
each other in different buildings – this see through set works extremely well, it also uses visual displays throughout the production to help us identify where we are i.e., trees to
show we are in the park, company names to show we are at work etc. I thought this was a clever and imaginative set design and again only basic props were used but somehow
worked well.
The love scenes were cleverly portrayed, and other than a fleeting glimpse of Oliver’s very peachy bottom we do not see any nudity and nor did we need to we all got the idea of what
was meant to be happening or had happened.
Unfortunately, Dan’s wife Beth played by Louise Redknapp could not always be heard – I’m not sure if this was down to the sound department or her not being able to throw her voice as it were to fill the theatre.
I admire both Susie Amy playing Alex and Oliver Farnworth playing Dan as they both had such long scripts to learn but to be honest on several occasions, I felt the sections were too
long and it became a bit boring in parts.
Several scenes could have and should have carried much more emotion – the famous bunny boiling scene especially could have been re-in acted with much more tension and
build up. Even Beth’s (Louise Redknapps) scream when finding the pot bubbling away was so pathetic and underwhelming.
They moved the production forward from the book and film in terms of time to include mobile phones and mentions to social media etc. which were obviously not readily available back when the film was made. I felt another good change would have been to set it in London as the American accent was somewhat unbelievable and very often unrealistic,
setting the production in London may well have helped?
The whole production for me personally was lacking that special something, the love scenes, fight scenes everything was just lacking that polished, finished, je ne Sais quoi, I left
feeling somewhat disappointed and deflated. I had hoped for more passion, more drama, more something.