I could get used to going to the theatre every week, especially on Mondays which are usually such a dreary prospect, unfortunately there are funding issues so I'll have to make do with my sporadic trips for now. Anyhow, on to tonight's performance, The Revenger's Tragedy at the National Theatre which one of my fellow theatre-goers succinctly described as shagging in the first half and stabbing in the second.
There was a bit more to it than that but Thomas Middleton who wrote the play must have been the Tarantino of his day because this certainly would have had an 18 certificate. (It's amazing what you can get away with on stage because it's culture, innit?)
Middleton looked up to Shakespeare who was the equivalent of Scorsese in his day and there are certainly influences: talking to skulls anyone?
To try and describe the plot would just confuse. I read it online and in the program beforehand and it certainly addled my poor brain but all becomes clear in the live performance.
Essentially it is set in an corrupt Italian court and sees the protagonist plot a lengthy and complicated revenge on the ruling family among whom there are also various hard done by members seeking out their own revenge. Naturally it ends in a high, bloody, body count and tragedy. Although I think Middleton needed to work on the tragic element a little, Hamlet this isn't.
It was brilliantly acted so that you soon forgot the language and verse, ably led by Rory Kinnear as Vindice. It was predominantly a contemporary staging but nothing was lost in dragging the costumes, sets and music into the 21st century.
Enjoyed every minute and I admit to a vague feeling of smugness knowing that people just two rows behind paid a lot more for their tickets as I managed to get the Travelex subsidised seats near the front for the bargain price of £10.
And now I am away to bed forsooth I will be veritably grumpy in the morning when the alarm goeth off.