SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewHouse of Games
|
He's not aware that in poker you don't play the cards, you play the man. — George/Vegas Man
|
Nancy Carroll as Dr Margaret Ford and Al Weaver as Billy Hahn (Photo: Simon Annand) |
The original is a fiendishly elaborate bluff, counter bluff and super counter bluff con which was hard to anticipate and the new stage version retains some but not all of this excitement. Maybe the problem is as much to do with the inability of actors onstage to switch scenes unlike the film editor's ability to seamlessly change shot and location. The issue then is why take a brilliant film and turn it into a stage play? What does the new medium add, what does it take away?
Nancy Carroll in a Marilyn Monroe curled, blonde wig plays the psychotherapist Dr Margaret Ford, whose patient Billy Hahn (Al Weaver) tells her about his gambling addiction and the debt he owes to Mike (Michael Landes) of The House of Games poker club. It is Dr Ford's venture into this world of vice and gambling that drives the plot and her falling for Mike in one of those stories where nice girls are sexual prey for men they perceive to be dangerous adds spice. She thinks she can carry out an academic study of the hustler as material for a new book.
The world of the gamblers is a smoke filled bar, a seedy underworld peopled with wonderful but undsavoury characters: Trevor Cooper's Vegas Man, foul mouthed, unpredictable, a hardened gambler, John Marquez's pony tailed Bobby and Dermot Crowley's seasoned old Joey. Handsome hustler Mike shows Margaret some "tells", the giveaway signs that hardened gamblers learn to recognise in the inexperienced so that they can accurately assess situations. This new to her world fascinates Margaret adding a sexual frisson to the experience and she is drawn in. Upstairs the set is the psychiatrist's consulting room, clean and light and airy. Intelligence is not enough when faced with the streetwise. A lone guitarist plays in a red lit window as the scene changes from the office to the club.
The performances are mostly good with passable American accents but Lindsay Posner's production seems to make the plot's twists and turns predictable. Maybe we are just too sophisticated or the screen to page has failed for the reasons given above.
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
| House of Games
Stage version by Richard Bean Based on the screenplay by David Mamet Story by David Mamet and Jonathan Katz Directed by Lindsay Posner Starring: Nancy Carroll, Trevor Cooper, Michael Landes With: Dermot Crowley, Peter De Jersey, Amanda Drew, John Marquez, Al Weaver Design: Peter McKintosh Lighting: Paul Pyant Composer: Django Bates Music composed by Gary Yershon Running time: One hours 40 minutes without an interval Box Office: 020 7359 4404 Booking to 6th November 2010 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 17th September 2010 performance at the Almeida, almeida street, London N1 1TA (Tube: Angel Islington) |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email . . . also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message |
|
London Theatre Tickets Lion King Tickets Billy Elliot Tickets Mighty Boosh Tickets Mamma Mia Tickets We Will Rock You Tickets Theatre Tickets |
