Review – Clybourne Park, Royal Court Theatre

Why on earth would anyone want to go to see Clybourne Park, the latest offering at the Royal Court? These are the only reasons we could think of off the tops of our heads.

1. Bruce Norris‘s (The Pain And The Itch) play is thought-provoking
2. And squirm-inducing
3. And riotously funny.
4. It’s confidently directed by Dominic Cooke,
5. and pleasingly performed.
6. It taps into Andrew’s (and presumably some other people’s) fascination with house histories –
7. And scratches at the taboos about how we may or may not discuss race.
8. It’s intelligent…
9. …But never boasts about it.
10. The first act is slightly overplayed melodrama.
11. It boasts two wonderful sets by Robert Innes-Hopkins. Or one wonderful set, depending on which way you look at it. Even though both Whingers were independently unsettled by the curtain rods which seemed a bit surprising for 1959.
12. It turns out that in addition to his comic talents Martin Freeman (Tim in The Office, Watson in Sherlock) has an extraordinary gift for transforming himself. If we hadn’t known he was in it we would probably have spent the first 20 minutes bugged by a sense of faint recognition, unable to concentrate until the penny dropped.
13. The ensemble cast is turbo-powered.
14. It features the hilarious Sophie Thompson (Emma Thompson’s sister)
15. And Lucian Msamati – Mr JLB Matekoni from  The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
16. But even the people you haven’t heard of are good. We particularly enjoyed Sarah Goldberg who plays
17. A deaf character.
18. There’s a wonderful fifties frock buoyed up by petticoats aplenty.
19. It’s rare that Andrew spots a kitchen gadget or home dining accessory that he doesn’t already possess, let alone one that is so integral to text. Now he simply MUST have a chafing dish. Sadly Peter Jones was closed by the time the curtain came down…
20. … and it was a REAL curtain, not a metaphorical one…
21. and that REAL curtain came down a respectable 2h 10 minutes after it went up…
22. But we probably wouldn’t have minded much if it had gone on longer.
23. £10 Mondays are sponsored by French Wines (sadly we went on a Tuesday but anyway French Wines are quite heavily sponsored by the West End Whingers so it would have been too confusing).
24. A woman sitting two rows behind poked Andrew on the shoulder and said “Are you two my favourite theatre critics?” in earshot of the Sunday Telegraph’s Tim Walker…
25. … before going on to announce that she’d rather given up on Charles Spencer. We liked Penny (for that was her name).
26. Not only is ice-cream consumed on stage, but from a lovingly recreated 1950s carton.
27. It made us wonder how many Whingers it would take to change a light bulb (suggestions please)…
28. … And why a white woman is like a [whisper] feminine item (no suggestions please).
29. If this doesn’t win a slew of awards and get a transfer we’ll eat our (worn at jaunty angles) trilbies.
30. Do NOT be tempted to read anything else about the play, not even what’s on the RC website. Much, much better that you know nothing more about it.
31. It reminds you of why you go to the theatre; it is the antidote to Danton’s Death (thanks @adventuresofboz for this perspective).
32. Discussing it in the bar afterwards we were hovering between a four and a five but in the cold light of day we are still thinking about it and even considering going again so on balance it’s a…

Rating