Posted: 11/12/15 at 3:01pm
I know I'm in the minority, but I didn't like this production, at all. Admittedly, I am not a big Arthur Miller fan, but this production was a mess that just left me cold. There is no genius, to me, of taking Miller's Greek tragedy and staging it as a pseudo-Greek tragedy, right up to the concluding scene.
The acting, save Mark Strong, who is good, but in a different play, is atrocious. The oft-mentioned accents, are not a case of creating a universal time and place. They are actors attempting to do accents, of which they are not capable. It is distracting and annoying. I don't think I would have noticed, had they just spoken in their natural voices. There is no way this is anywhere near Red Hook.
The director has done nothing to remove inconsistencies or create a 'relatable' atmosphere from the accents to the actors being barefoot ( except one, who, for no discernible reason, is barefoot, then wears shoes, then exits to remove them and returns barefoot). Maybe this director is not for me, as I see him as rather "gimmicky," but I appreciate that others see him as genius and respect that he did not take a conventional/expected route.
The critics will love this, as many here, have and I really wanted to, after hearing so many positive comments and reviews, but it left me indifferent.
Now, Incident At Vichy is an entirely different story and the Miller play that should be on Broadway.
