David Mamet’s early play can be accused of not offering value for money, is generally slight with more than two dozen scenes - some not more than a couple of minutes long - and, I fear, is a little outdated.
For the kind of theatre for which he has insight and affection has, I suspect, completely vanished in the USA and is not greatly in evidence here. It is, in fact, remarkably like weekly rep, with its repertoire of pot-boilers played by a resident company, in which the old pro (Patrick Stewart) is doing his unasked-for best to instruct the young newcomer (Joshua Jackson) in the ways of the trade.
Except that it is not a trade, of course, but one of the most demanding of all professions. Against a myriad of backgrounds, all carefully, if economically, designed by Giles Cadle, young John is steadily learning the business, while the elderly Robert is gradually losing his skills, becoming steadily aware of the fact but refusing to admit it.
At first John listens with respect to Robert’s wise words as they go through a repertoire of awful old plays about the First World War, the American revolution, shipwrecks and operating theatres, he gains in confidence while Robert, in the play’s funniest moments, makes a hash of an operation scene and cuts his finger into the bargain, is in danger of losing his altogether.
Under Lindsay Posner’s sensitive direction, Stewart movingly depicts Robert’s decline, his loneliness and veiled homosexual proclivities. Joshua Jackson, whose career would appear to have been spent entirely on the screen, is a young actor who takes to the theatre extremely well.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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