No, not Bonnie Tyler's classic '80s track, the play at the Menier Chocolate Factory. A re-telling of the relationship between Rimbaud and Verlaine sounds good to me but the worries started when we got there and the place was virtually empty. By showtime there were 29 people in the audience - it's not a large venue but the seating would have been for at least twice as many as that.I don't want to bad-mouth the thing, but I wouldn't want to sit through it again without some of the absinthe so liberally poured on stage. There was no warmth at all, the characters played as rather distasteful and offensive, far too serious with no ebb and flow of emotions, just a relentless intensity that wouldn't give up. Over-long speeches that seemed wordy for the sake of it. And why were Rimbaud's trousers so short? Yes, he's young and presumably grew out of his trousers when we first meet him but he wears the same clothes for three years while everyone else changes costume.
No I'm not going to do it. I'm starting to criticise it and pointing to niggley annoying things. The people involved must have put a huge effort into the production but it's not for me. I actually suggested leaving at half time and I never do that.
The play succeeded in one thing - it's made me want to find out more about the poets and whether they really were so relentlessly unpleasant.
2 comments:
I think you'd be hard pressed to find anything "nice" to say about Rimbaud & Verlaine. A relationship based largely on the copious intake of dope and absinthe was probably fun for a couple of nights, but must have turned nasty pretty damn quickly. Have you seen the plaque in Royal College St in Camden that shows where they stayed in London?
We did Verlaine's 'Sagesse' for French A level. Funny how the whole Rimbaud thing didn't get a mention...
O dear. Maybe I don't want to know any more. I *like* nice.
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