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theatre One-Act Wonders Dialogue Productions have turned Neil LaBute’s new work into three moving performances This triple-bill of Neil LaBute plays, each lasting a single act, is an ambitious project for Dialogue Productions. The company strive to bring international theatre to Britain, and this tour is the national premiere of LaBute’s latest work, The Furies. Over two hours, using only three actors, the performances manage to convey three drastically different scenarios. For any actor, switching roles so quickly is a challenge, but Dialogue have managed to pull it off, resulting in three powerful pieces. The trilogy complement each other with interweaving themes, each presenting a problem faced in a romantic relationship, with frequent nods to classical drama. But it was the central piece, Land of the Dead, which was truly exceptional. The intimacy of the venue and the beautiful simplicity of the staging helped to emphasise Frances Grey’s highly natural performance. The play was written for a benefit on the first anniversary of 9/11, but LaBute manages to avoid heavy-handed sentimentality. He does not pretend that all those killed were heroes, but by focusing on an individual story, LaBute demonstrates how incomprehensible the effects of the tragedy have been.
The cast of The Furies
Despite the occasional waver of the faux-American accents, Dialogue productions should be thanked for bringing dramas like these to our shores. The tour continues to Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow (16-20 February), Greenwich Theatre, London (23-27 February), ARC, Stockton (2 March), Northern Stage, Newcastle (3-5 March), Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury (9-10 March) and Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate (15-17 March). MH
cinema Diluted to death Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lovely Bones may disappoint fans of the novel Readers of Alice Sebold’s bestselling novel The Lovely Bones have keenly anticipated this promising adaptation. Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings fame, lined up a stellar cast including Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci. Saoirse Ronan, known for her Oscar-nominated performance in Atonement, plays the lead character, Susie Salmon. With this cast, it is difficult to see how Jackson could make the film anything less than brilliant. Despite knowing her fate from the beginning, the tension leading to the death of Susie Salmon is at times unbearable. Jackson handles the suspense deftly throughout, which only makes it more frustrating when the film begins to meander. Following her death, Jackson introduces a strange, multi-coloured fantasy world to represent the “in-between” place. The idea is not a bad one, with aspects of the real world colliding into it in imaginative ways. However, the CGI looks cheap and unconvincing, and the long interruptions from the tension of the “real” world become increasingly grating. At times, it seems like a film made for children. And, in some respects, it is. Glossing over the rape itself leads to confusion over the killer’s motives, despite an excellent performance from Stanley Tucci. His victims smile and hold hands with an uncomfortable camaraderie, giving the film a rather odd message – the victims seem almost better-off after their murders. Jackson’s decision to soften the film to achieve a 12A rating is confusing considering the subject matter. The consequence has been a disappointment of a film: too dark for children, yet too saccharine for adults. Go online to www.journalism.cf.ac.uk/renew for our pick of the best and worst film adaptations. MH
Top photo: theatre press office. Bottom photo: bigtree @ Flickr
A lifetime spent in recluse With the death of JD Salinger, we have lost one of the 20th Century’s finest voices
The figure of Holden Caulfield and his reclusive author JD Salinger seem almost interchangeable. Ex-lover Joyce Maynard claimed, “The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been JD Salinger.” Indeed, he constantly rejected film offers for his best-known novel The Catcher in the Rye. Despite the novel’s runaway success, it was not without controversy. In 1979, it was claimed that the book held a unique position – both the most censored book in America, and the second most frequently-taught in high schools. He was lambasted by Christian groups for godlessness in the novel, but later in life Salinger began an avid search for spirituality. Zen Buddhism was his main interest, reflected in his lesser-known but greatly acclaimed work Franny and Zooey, and the unforgettable Teddy from the collection Nine Stories. Salinger was among the first to enter a liberated concentration camp, and later said: “You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live.” Traumatised by his experiences, Salinger was reluctant for fame. “Publishing is a great invasion of my privacy,” he said. “I don’t necessarily intend to publish posthumously, but I do like to write for myself.” Leaving behind as many as 15 unpublished novels, perhaps this voice has not been silenced just yet. MH
JD Salinger