'The Visit' at the National Theatre

'The Visit, or The Old Lady Comes To Call' is the new play at the National Theatre that uses all the tricks and whizzes of the Olivier stage. It's a new version of the play, written by Tony Kushner (who wrote 'Angels in America' so he's used to writing long plays) and is set in the small town of Slurry in small-town America. I wonder if Americans know what 'slurry' means in British English? I suspect the playwtite does but still...

The richest woman in the world is set to visit the small town where she was born and grew up in before escaping in her teenage years and beginning her adventures that made her rich and famous. The townsfolk are suddenly proud of her since the town is dying, industries closing and poverty spreading, and proud of the local shopkeeper who was her boyfriend in high school.

Then, suddenly, Claire Zachanassian arrives in the smoke from the train that wasn't scheduled to stop in the small town but she pulls the emergency chord to get it to stop. She can buy her way out of everything. The climax to Act I comes with Mrs Zachanassian promising $1 billion to the town if it delivers justice for her and this justice is the death of her former boyfriend that got her pregnant as a schoolgirl and then lied in court so she had to leave the town in shame.

Ooooh big moral decisions here and $1 billion in the 1950s was a lot more than it is today. The townsfolk can't possibly agree to kill one of their own, the owner of the local store they all use, but they can still dream. And then they start opening charge accounts that will be paid off one day when they have the money. But when will they ever have the money with local industry closing down?  There is only one source of new money. I won't go any further in telling the story in case you're planning to see the play.

The leads of Mrs Zacharassian and her old boyfriend are played by Lesley Manville and Hugo Weaving, both of whom are excellent. They worked well together and led the rather large cast with ease. Once Manville appears in the first act, all haughty and laden with money, the act is hers as she's centre-stage and not about to give up an inch. I've seen Lesley Manville on stage before but not Hugo Weaving - I've seen some of his films, of course, ('Priscilla', 'The Matrix', 'Lord of the Rings', etc) but it was nice to see him on stage doing the acting thing and he was very good indeed. I also really liked Sara Kestelman as the school headteacher who's seen her town slowly die and who made a particularly fine drunk towards the end.

It was nice to see the big Olivier stage used to good effect, to see the set rotating away and changing, and a forest emerging from below the stage - the spectacle of those moments shouldn't be underestimated since they're so rarely seen. The large cast, the clouds of smoke that appear every time a train comes near, the lighting, all of these add to the atmosphere of the play, the almost claustrophobia of small town America with dubious morals and the need to get on.

I enjoyed the play and I suspect you will too, so go along and see it.