The National Theatre’s repertoire is a mixed bag at the moment.THE RED BARN is a stage adaptation by one of the UK’s most celebrated contemporary playwrights, David Hare, of the novel LA MAIN by George Simenon. One of the most fashionable directors of the moment, Robert Icke, with designer Bunny Christie, have employed their usual box of tricks to make it look as cinematic as possible with a constantly shifting series of panels rising falling and swiping to reveal the various locations and some very convincing snow storms.
The trouble is that at the heart of all this theatricality is a very dull play indeed. The cast is led by Mark Strong, fresh from his triumphant performance in Arthur Miller’s A VIEW FROM A BRIDGE on Broadway and in the West End, and includes TV star Elizabeth Debicki who made such an impact recently as the love interest in THE NIGHT MANAGER.
They’ve been directed to give cool, emotionally restrained performances in a very slight story about a crime of passion in 1950s Connecticut. It’s neither engaging nor thrilling just plodding and dull and if it had anything to say about the human condition then it passed me by.
This production is all about the scenery sliding in and out which it does very efficiently but considering the extensive high-tech, back stage facilities at the National Theatre even this feels unremarkable very quickly.
One of the most annoying things about the evening is that it’s been very clearly directed by someone intent on making it look great from the most expensive seats in the auditorium, so if you go make sure you sit in the centre. From the side at the front as I was (still very expensive seats) the sight lines are terrible and I couldn't see key moments necessary to the plot.
All in all this is a strange and pointless evening, dripping in clever stagecraft, but without anything to say. It’s almost as if, having enjoyed working out the theatricality, the team forgot to put a play of any consequence at its heart.
It’s also an odd decision to approach any piece of staging intent on making it feel as much like cinema as possible. Why? We could just stay at home and watch a film and no this occasion this is what I recommend you do.
For most of us, all we know of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers is the act 1 “friendship” duet, a regular favourite on Classic FM and a frequent choice for film soundtracks and TV advertising. There’s a reason for this: Pearl Fishers is a slight, immature piece, with a daft libretto (it is reported that after the first performance the librettists apologized and said that if they had known Bizet was any good they would have tried harder) but it has its moments, and we see glimpses of the mature music-dramatist who would later compose Carmen.