Rendering №8

The editorail published on April, 11 is headlined “Narrative, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, review”.    It is a review of  Narrative, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs with elements of the brief biography of its author. The author of the article considers it as It may have funny moments, but Anthony Neilson's Narrative is self-indulgent and lacks compassion.

The correspondent begins his writing with some facts from Anthony Neilson’s biography. The Scottish dramatist Anthony Neilson was one of the young Turks of the so called “In Yer Face” theatre brigade of the 1990s along withMark Ravenhill and the late Sarah Kane. In later years Neilson’s writing has become less shocking and more imaginative, in often surreally dream-like plays intermittently blessed with both humour and heart. Analyzing some of the brightest moments of his biography, it’s necessary to mention that he tends to arrive at plays by beginning with a few ideas and then working them out in rehearsals and improvisations with his actors, with the script coming together as they proceed. It’s a high risk strategy.
There is every reason to believe that there are several intertwined stories, mostly concerning actors and perhaps based on the lives of the performers. The writer gives appraisal to it by adding examples. One actor agonises that he is about to be written out of a soap, another finds himself cast in a super-hero film, playing the “Elastic Man” opposite George Clooney. There is also an actor who finds himself cruelly humiliated in an audition and an anguished mother whose son has committed suicide. Summing this up and analyzing Neilson’s unique style, the reporter says that at its best, the play proves comic and inventive, and there are sharp performances from Zawe Ashton as the ghastly PR, Oliver Rix as the handsome actor catapulted to stardom, and Barnaby Power as his jealous friend.
The article concludes by saying that nevertheless this is a piece that seems smugly pleased with its own ingenuity, and despite its often dark subject matter, it never becomes remotely moving.
As for me, it was very interesting to learn about The Scottish dramatist Anthony Neilson. According to this article Neilson’s style as well as all his plays prove a decidedly mixed bag, intriguing at times, occasionally funny, but at others self-indulgent and pretentious.