Rosmersholm

Went to the Almeida to see their production of Rosmersholm, which has had some stuinning reviews. They do a good deal on tickets as well and it was only £6 to get in ... so can't complain about that.

The evening was odd though and I felt a bit disengaged and I couldn't decide if it was the production or the theatre itself I was resisiting (quite a bit of faux Islington Mwwwaaaahhhing!!! going on in the foyer.)

The director Anthony Page had clearly looked to restrain the emotion of the piece and at first I found it very hard to hear what was being said. The low key delivery also served to highlight the blocked choreography with the actors springing backwards and forwards from stage right window to stage left doorway as if on elastic.

I always enjoy Ibsen, however, and think of him as a noble anarchist, rather than the social reformer he's sometimes portrayed as. He had no idea how to change the world, just knew it needed changing.

Helen McCrory, as Rebecca West was brilliant at the two most telling moments of the playand the excellent Paul Sullivan brought the stillness, to his cameo as radical journalist Peder Mortensgaard, that was needed for us to want to lean in and listen.

It was, I suspect, just the trick.