'Awake And Sing!' at The Almeida

Tonight I went to see 'Awake And Sing!' by Clifford Odets at The Almeida Theatre with Chris, a play I'd never seen or heard of in a theatre I'd never been to before by a playwrite I've never heard of. On a Monday evening struggling through crowded tube chaos, sore back and no food. I wasn't in the mood for a play in which acting was measured by vocal decibels. Bear that in mind, huh?

It's set in the Bronx in the '30s so the first hurdle to get over is the array of accents, some of which were just stereotypes (but I suppose stereotypes have to come from somewhere). I sat for the entire first half wondering what I was actually seeing, what was I really seeing, not just a family having dinner and then shouting at each other - what was really happening, what was the metaphor, what was this representing? I couldn't fathom it so decided it was just a family shouting at each other and shouting is the normal state for this family so shouting doesn't mean anything.

A strong mother, a weak father who does as he's told, two children who feably try to rebel against their lot and their parents, a grandfather who lives with them, a lodger (I think?) all living together in a small apartment and the mother's brother who owns a dress factory. Immediately this reeks of claustrophobia and tension, the over-bearing mother ruling her roost. The twisted morality of the upstanding family is instantly on view when the mother contrives to marry the daughter to a poor immigrant when she becomes pregnant, better a loveless marriage than a child out of wedlock.

I can appreciate some of this play but it wasn't very satisfying. Some of the plot turns were a bit obvious (such as the fates of the grandfather and the daughter), the acting was a bit patchy and the writing was odd in places, using the play's title to exhort the son to live his life, stand up for himself and make something of himself. Or am I missing something? It was nice to see Stockard Channing, who played the mother, but she looked thin to me. I thought she was magnificent as Sunny in 'The Exonerated' and that's how I'll think of her.

Oh, and to make matters worse, the chip shop round the corner had closed early tonight so the longing I'd had all the way down the Northern Line from the Angel was left unfulfilled... I was so looking forward to chips...