| Faces in the Crowd | |
|---|---|
poster for Faces in the Crowd |
|
| Written by | Leo Butler |
| Characters | 1 male and 1 female |
| Date premiered | 2004 Royal Court in London |
| Original language | English |
Faces in the Crowd by Leo Butler was first performed at the Royal Court theatre in London in 2008. The original cast had Amanda Drew and Con O'Neill directed by Clare Lizzimore. Its been called a 'credit-crunch generation Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'.
It was one of the first pieces of theatre to examine the credit crunch and focused on an estranged husband and wife. The original performance was particularly notable for the staging where the play was performed in the round and the audience sat above the flat in which the play was set and looked down on the action.
Dave and Joanna were married but he left their Sheffield flat under too much pressure. The action starts 10 years later when Joanna comes to visit him wanting a baby, they fight and argue viciously and sleep together as secrets come out about their past.
On the whole the play was reviewed to be good and well acted however its political and economic dimension a little forced. The Guardian[1] reviewed it mainly positively but finished with
It reaches its height in the final 20 minutes, when Dave and Joanne stop beating the hell out of each other and start spouting social-history textbooks - with Dave telling us he's unhappy because of Maggie Thatcher and the cult of individualism, and Joanne announcing that she's miserable because feminism is a con. I just didn't buy it.The Guardian
Some did give the play simply good reviews.
The Daily Telegraph said...
Talk about bang on the money. Leo Butler's outstanding new play - his best yet - catches the mood of the moment in its raw and devastating account of a couple who got swept along on a tide of easy credit, only to end up dashed against a northern rock of debt. Daily Telegraph [2]