The Sea at the Haymarket

Tonight we went to see 'The Sea' at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, a nice posh venue for an evening's entertainment.

It was shite.

Oh? You'd like more? Midway through the second scene I realised I was just staring at the stage, aghast at how dire it was, not believing my eyes, not understanding how 'name' actors could be involved in it and think it was good and, unfortunately, thoroughly understanding why the theatre was half empty.

The first hint came when our tickets for the upper circle were changed to royal circle since the upper circle was closed, and the royal circle wasn't very busy either. An interesting start in a storm at sea with atmospheric lighting and sound resolved into an Edwardian draper's shop in a seaside town with the leading lady buying material for curtains from the leading man. That went ok until the end of that scene when the draper started talking about aliens from space invading the town and drowning in the sea... Um, ok, that's an interesting slant on things, but it was downhill from there.

The writing was all over the place, characterisation was inconsistent, it changed tack from one minute to the next and I was wondering whether it was supposed to be some kind of experimental piece. There were cringe-inducing moments when the leading man slowly went mad in the throws of a breakdown and parts of the audience were laughing - were they laughing with or at the play? or was it to relieve the tension? It just made me terribly uncomfortable and want to be elsewhere.

I'm sure more seasoned theatre-goers will see things in it that I missed and will appreciate the writing. The acting was probably wonderful or something like that, but I thought the best acting was when the cast came on stage for the bows at the end and they wore beaming smiles. Now, *that* was acting! Me, I thought it was shite.

If anyone involved in that production or anyone related to anyone in that production ever reads this blog, then I can only apologise. I hate writing bad reviews. People have put a lot of effort into things, both on stage and behind the scenes and some might see it as their big opportunity. I feel guilty. But my opinion stands. Sorry. I quite like the poster though.