Chatterbox - still talking nonsense

Bryan Cranston, Paapa Essiedu, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Hayley Squires are the core of the cast assembled for this revival of Arthur Miller's family drama about the sins of the fathers coming back to haunt their children.  It's overlaid with a critique about money grabbing bosses taking opportunities in a time of national crisis to make a quick buck regardless of the harm it may do. So, it may be over 75 years old now, but with so many modern resonances; certainly I was thinking about the Michelle Mone and other Covid scandals.   I liked that this production doesn’t try to force the point though, which is clear enough, without needing to set it in a modern context.   The production really struck gold with this cast.  Essiedu and Cranston are a powerhouse duo, and the whole ensemble are just magnificent.  Bryan Cranston plays Joe Keller, the bluff, jovial, proud master of industry wanting to leave a legacy for his remaining son.  Marianne Jean-Ba...

  A play with an excellent pedigree, written by Lucy Prebble of I Hate Suzie and Succession, I missed the original production with Billie Piper.   The performance we saw had understudy Mara Huf, playing Connie against Paapa Essiedu’s Tristan.  If this made any difference I don’t really care as what I saw  tonight was still very good indeed.  We had seats in the slips, one of my favourite spots in the Lyttleton, which was transformed by the traverse stage with the other half of the audience looking back at us.   A four hander, we have Connie and Tristan as the participants in a trial for an anti depressant drug, observed by two doctors Lorna and Toby. In a a bare set except for the lighting effects, a couple of chairs and a bucket with a brain in it, both sides of the audience watch each other as we watch two people fall in love, and the observers explore love, depression, the after effects and lots more besides. The play explores firstly, how much...