This is not a review but merely some thoughts before I go off and see this production again.
But until that happens, I encourage you all to see Daniel Keene's new play at the Sydney Theatre Company, The Serpent's Teeth.
I was going to resist looking at what the blogosphere and my fellow critics were saying until I had returned, but curiosity got the better of me.
All of them have written quite tepidly about the production and one from my own newspaper totally missed the shocking beauty of the two plays. But criticism is so damn subjective isn't it?
It's the type of play that you have to sit with for a few days, a few weeks at the very least. To get perspective on what the STC have delivered in a short few words over night is damn impossible in my mind. Criticism is so subjective.
It is exhilarating to see the STC produce this work and in so many ways it asks a hell of a lot of a mostly superficial Sydney audience. I can just see the production team saying to themselves - have a bite of this and see how you go.
The Serpent's Teeth dives deep and dark. It asks clear questions about grief, about death, about responsibility and about humanity. It is, above all, confronting.
Admittedly, I think one of the two pieces is a lot weaker, production-wise, than the other. But I have to go back and see it to make sure.
I don't think that I have had the need to see a production twice for a very long time.
I suppose what I am saying is, beware the critic that has a deadline on this one. There is a lot more than meets the eye...
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
The Serpent's Teeth
Posted by Nicholas Pickard at 12:01 am
Labels: Australian Plays, General Comment, Theatre
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4 comments:
Goddamn it shits me that Keene's work gets a showing in Sydney and not his (and my) hometown, Melbourne. I'm primarily a film person and have been mighty impressed with Keene's writing on the films of Alkinos Tsilimidos. I love the way he tackles darker subject matter and am keen (pun not intended) to see what he does with play writing.
I'm intrigued Nicholas - what do you think is the reason for the wide variety of opinions when it comes to this show? It's only been playing a few days and I've never seen so many comments on the various blogs. Allowing for the inevitable anonymous comments by those close to the production, it seems divisive (I've just been reading over at Alison Croggon's TheatreNotes).
I agree with you Mr Pickard - there is a depth in this production (or productions plural) that has yet to be plumbed all the way. I think they will venture deeper and darker over time.
I was lucky to see this on opening night and I have to say it is not what I expected, even though familiar with Keene's work. I liked the way the two pieces were very different and yet complementary - the way the two sit together is one of those aspects that plays in your imagination in the days after seeing it.
I agree this is one of the few plays in a while I too would like to see again - not that the production was not ready opening night but that it could be grow into something way more interesting.
I'll have to see what's going on in the blogosphere, it seems!
Tedious, boring, glacially slow, overacted, laborious and just plain dull...if you hate yourself, it's a must-see.
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