#2
Posted: 10/27/13 at 7:34pm
Talkin' Broadway (Matthew Murray) is negative:
Link
Link
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#3
Posted: 10/27/13 at 9:51pm
Financial Times is positive: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/61b97c56-3d59-11e3-9928-00144feab7de.html#axzz2iyakSonU
AP is a rave: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/review-revival-pinters-betrayal-stunning-20698907
Chicago Tribune is positive: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/sc-betrayal-daniel-craig-broadway-review,0,6501114.column
Hollywood Reporter is positive: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/betrayal-theater-review-651132
Newsday is positive: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/betrayal-review-daniel-craig-and-rachel-weisz-shine-1.6321091
LA Times is positive: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-betrayal-review-20131028,0,3460778.story#axzz2iyhrSIef
Bloomberg is a rave: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-27/craig-weisz-rafe-spall-sizzle-in-five-star-betrayal-review
(What show did these guys see...?)
AM NY is mixed with 2.5 stars: http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/theater-review-betrayal-2-5-stars-1.6328629
AP is a rave: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/review-revival-pinters-betrayal-stunning-20698907
Chicago Tribune is positive: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/sc-betrayal-daniel-craig-broadway-review,0,6501114.column
Hollywood Reporter is positive: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/betrayal-theater-review-651132
Newsday is positive: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/betrayal-review-daniel-craig-and-rachel-weisz-shine-1.6321091
LA Times is positive: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-betrayal-review-20131028,0,3460778.story#axzz2iyhrSIef
Bloomberg is a rave: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-27/craig-weisz-rafe-spall-sizzle-in-five-star-betrayal-review
(What show did these guys see...?)
AM NY is mixed with 2.5 stars: http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/theater-review-betrayal-2-5-stars-1.6328629
Updated On: 10/27/13 at 09:51 PM
#4
Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:09pm
NY Times is negative: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/theater/reviews/daniel-craig-and-rachel-weisz-star-in-betrayal-on-broadway.html?ref=theater
NY Mag is positive (and a rather annoying read, truthfully): http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/theater-review-betrayal.html
The Guardian is mixed, with three out of five stars: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/oct/28/betrayal-review-daniel-craig-pinter-new-york
USA Today is mixed with 2.5 out of four stars: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/theater/2013/10/27/broadway-review-betrayal/3178159/
EW is positive, with a B+: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20364394_20749744,00.html
TimeOut NY's review isn't up, but they give it 3 out of 5 stars: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/betrayal
Variety is a rave: http://variety.com/2013/legit/reviews/broadway-review-betrayal-1200769173/
The Wrap is positive: http://www.thewrap.com/betrayal-daniel-craig-rachel-weisz
NY Mag is positive (and a rather annoying read, truthfully): http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/theater-review-betrayal.html
The Guardian is mixed, with three out of five stars: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/oct/28/betrayal-review-daniel-craig-pinter-new-york
USA Today is mixed with 2.5 out of four stars: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/theater/2013/10/27/broadway-review-betrayal/3178159/
EW is positive, with a B+: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20364394_20749744,00.html
TimeOut NY's review isn't up, but they give it 3 out of 5 stars: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/betrayal
Variety is a rave: http://variety.com/2013/legit/reviews/broadway-review-betrayal-1200769173/
The Wrap is positive: http://www.thewrap.com/betrayal-daniel-craig-rachel-weisz
Updated On: 10/27/13 at 10:09 PM
#5
Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:15pm
Note to David Cote- We call it the orchestra here in the USA- not the stalls. Get off of your high horse. No one cares that you've been to the West End.
#7
Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:23pm
"Isn't The Guardian a British publication though?"
It is and he's writing for a British audience so I don't have a problem with the British terminology.
It is and he's writing for a British audience so I don't have a problem with the British terminology.
#8
Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:29pm
I'm baffled tgat this is getting a good amount of poitive or nicest/positive reviews...... It was so dull
#9
Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:41pm
David Cote recently had a staged reading of a play he wrote. Our neighbor saw it and said it was absolutely dreadful and he walked out on it.
Mr Cote likes to rip others because he obviously is not up to writing a play himself. Seems like a case of sour grapes David.
Mr Cote likes to rip others because he obviously is not up to writing a play himself. Seems like a case of sour grapes David.
Poster Emeritus
#11
Posted: 10/27/13 at 10:45pm
He ain't crazy about a lot of shows. I think of him as Ben Brantleys secret brother.
Poster Emeritus
#12
Posted: 10/27/13 at 11:18pm
A LUCKY LADY reference? Well, at least Brantley's seemingly bottomless need to compare everything to film and film stars has found more esoteric hues.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#13
Posted: 10/28/13 at 12:02am
NY Post is positive, with three out of four stars: http://nypost.com/2013/10/27/cheaters-prosper-in-betrayal/
NY Daily News is positive, with four out of five stars: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/betrayal-theater-review-article-1.1496753
The Record is a rave: http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/theater/229493451_Theater_review___Betrayal___starring_Daniel_Craig_and_Rachel_Weisz.html?page=all
NY Daily News is positive, with four out of five stars: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/betrayal-theater-review-article-1.1496753
The Record is a rave: http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/theater/229493451_Theater_review___Betrayal___starring_Daniel_Craig_and_Rachel_Weisz.html?page=all
Updated On: 10/28/13 at 12:02 AM
#14
Posted: 10/28/13 at 1:58am
holy crap, what were these critics watching could it have changed so significantly between the 2nd preview when I saw it and opening?
#15
Posted: 10/28/13 at 2:25am
"I'm baffled tgat this is getting a good amount of poitive or nicest/positive reviews...... It was so dull"
1 + 1 = 2. A certainty.
Mega movie star + Mike Nichols + Harold Pinter + a dull dud of a play that leaves audiences bored and annoyed = the perfect formula for a critics' darling. No less a certainty.
Sad for our theatre.
Sadder still for our audiences!
1 + 1 = 2. A certainty.
Mega movie star + Mike Nichols + Harold Pinter + a dull dud of a play that leaves audiences bored and annoyed = the perfect formula for a critics' darling. No less a certainty.
Sad for our theatre.
Sadder still for our audiences!
#16
Posted: 10/28/13 at 8:52am
The question seems to be: What play did Dame Brantley see?
#17
Posted: 10/28/13 at 9:47am
^^^ He didn't see the play, he accidentally saw an episode of ABCs' Betrayal!
#18
Posted: 10/28/13 at 10:57am
I thought it was terrible.
Bring back Kristin Scott Thomas!
Bring back Kristin Scott Thomas!
#19
Posted: 10/28/13 at 6:26pm
After Eight--
I totally get how one can call the play "dull" (Pinter isn't for everyone), but a "dud"? It's considered a classic on both sides of the Atlantic, has been revived on Broadway twice, turned into a movie, and has received countless productions regionally over the past three decades. A dud is a play that flops and is hardly ever seen again. This is not one of those cases.
I'd also like to add that what is really sad for our theatre is people who can't appreciate language-based plays that depend on subtlety not on flash, and which satisfy our heads as much as our hearts.
I won't be able to see this production, but based on all reviews but Brantley's, it sounds like it's a very solid interpretation of a work that, while not the best play ever written, is a well-crafted and memorable piece by one of the most important playwrights of the past half-century.
Just my two cents.
I totally get how one can call the play "dull" (Pinter isn't for everyone), but a "dud"? It's considered a classic on both sides of the Atlantic, has been revived on Broadway twice, turned into a movie, and has received countless productions regionally over the past three decades. A dud is a play that flops and is hardly ever seen again. This is not one of those cases.
I'd also like to add that what is really sad for our theatre is people who can't appreciate language-based plays that depend on subtlety not on flash, and which satisfy our heads as much as our hearts.
I won't be able to see this production, but based on all reviews but Brantley's, it sounds like it's a very solid interpretation of a work that, while not the best play ever written, is a well-crafted and memorable piece by one of the most important playwrights of the past half-century.
Just my two cents.
#20
Posted: 10/28/13 at 6:34pm
DB,
There are many clothesless emperors who have been trumpeted for decades for their raiment.
That doesn't make them any more clothed.
It's too bad people are afraid to say as much.
There are many clothesless emperors who have been trumpeted for decades for their raiment.
That doesn't make them any more clothed.
It's too bad people are afraid to say as much.
#21
Posted: 10/28/13 at 8:37pm
Well, I like the play, personally. Wish I could see this version.
#22
Posted: 10/28/13 at 8:44pm
Unfortunately, your opinion doesn't matter to After Eight because it's different than his, which makes it wrong in his mind.
#23
Posted: 11/23/13 at 11:02pm
I was disappointed with this--BETRAYAL is my favorite play and I think they messed it up.
"Betrayal is a story told in reverse (beginning in 1977 and ending in 1968 ) about the love between Robert (Daniel Craig) and his best friend Jerry (Rafe Spall) but is disguised as a story about Jerry’s affair with Robert’s wife, Emma (Rachel Weisz). Therefore, its most heartbreaking moments do not come from the apparent eponymous betrayal but from the more subtle one: for example, when Robert discovers a letter from Jerry to Emma, he asks, while needling her for a confession but in a moment of weakness, 'Was there any message for me, in his letter? … No message? Not even his love?' A few minutes later, ostensibly as a joke, he says to her, 'I’ve always liked Jerry. To be honest, I’ve always liked him rather more than I’ve liked you. Maybe I should have had an affair with him myself.' Robert’s primary anger, then, does not come from Emma sleeping with Jerry, but from Emma stealing Jerry’s affection. But Mr. Nichols directs it as if it were another suburban adultery narrative, perhaps something that could have been written by John Updike. And the way Mr. Craig plays this scene, we get none of the tenderness that is present in the text. Choking down whiskey, he screams at Emma, which I found, in the words of Ford Madox Ford, not 'quite English good form.' What should be reserved and psychologically aggressive is instead made demonstrative and verbally aggressive, both in this scene and in most others. Mr. Spall fares a little better, though he doesn’t seem to have much of a connection with either of his fellow actors, and Ms. Weisz, playing the play’s most thankless part, never convinces us why either of these men would get so much joy and pain out of this woman."
My review of BETRAYAL
"Betrayal is a story told in reverse (beginning in 1977 and ending in 1968 ) about the love between Robert (Daniel Craig) and his best friend Jerry (Rafe Spall) but is disguised as a story about Jerry’s affair with Robert’s wife, Emma (Rachel Weisz). Therefore, its most heartbreaking moments do not come from the apparent eponymous betrayal but from the more subtle one: for example, when Robert discovers a letter from Jerry to Emma, he asks, while needling her for a confession but in a moment of weakness, 'Was there any message for me, in his letter? … No message? Not even his love?' A few minutes later, ostensibly as a joke, he says to her, 'I’ve always liked Jerry. To be honest, I’ve always liked him rather more than I’ve liked you. Maybe I should have had an affair with him myself.' Robert’s primary anger, then, does not come from Emma sleeping with Jerry, but from Emma stealing Jerry’s affection. But Mr. Nichols directs it as if it were another suburban adultery narrative, perhaps something that could have been written by John Updike. And the way Mr. Craig plays this scene, we get none of the tenderness that is present in the text. Choking down whiskey, he screams at Emma, which I found, in the words of Ford Madox Ford, not 'quite English good form.' What should be reserved and psychologically aggressive is instead made demonstrative and verbally aggressive, both in this scene and in most others. Mr. Spall fares a little better, though he doesn’t seem to have much of a connection with either of his fellow actors, and Ms. Weisz, playing the play’s most thankless part, never convinces us why either of these men would get so much joy and pain out of this woman."
My review of BETRAYAL
Updated On: 11/23/13 at 11:02 PM
#24
Posted: 12/29/13 at 9:07pm
I saw it for the first time today. It appeared on TKTS yesterday matinee and tonight as well, so if you were on the fence about seeing it, you might be able to get it in before it closes next week.
Frankly, I liked it. I am not familiar with the movie or any of the other productions, and I'm not a Pinter fanatic, but rather a Broadway enthusiast. The actors (Spall very much included) play many of the lines for laughs, but that just makes the evident wounds in the relationships between each of the characters much more searing as they do come up. It's a sharp look at the way that we put on faces for each other, even among those who are nominally our closest friends, and it effectively portrays how difficult it can be to escape the lives that we form for ourselves as adults.
With that in mind, let me tell you that Sunday's matinee performance was the worst Broadway audience I've ever been a part of. I've been to well over a dozen performances in 1.5 years. Someone sitting in the orchestra triggered Siri during Scene 3, and I heard it all the way in the lower mezz. The woman in the row in front of me would not turn off her phone until I asked her to, and when her phone went off during the play (of COURSE) she didn't even realize it was hers. During Daniel Craig's very first scene, he interrupted himself mid-sentence to point and call out an audience member--couldn't see what they were doing from the mezz, but I assume they were taking a photo.
With seats approaching $500 for the orchestra, I had hoped that some of these inconsiderate morons would be weeded out.
Frankly, I liked it. I am not familiar with the movie or any of the other productions, and I'm not a Pinter fanatic, but rather a Broadway enthusiast. The actors (Spall very much included) play many of the lines for laughs, but that just makes the evident wounds in the relationships between each of the characters much more searing as they do come up. It's a sharp look at the way that we put on faces for each other, even among those who are nominally our closest friends, and it effectively portrays how difficult it can be to escape the lives that we form for ourselves as adults.
With that in mind, let me tell you that Sunday's matinee performance was the worst Broadway audience I've ever been a part of. I've been to well over a dozen performances in 1.5 years. Someone sitting in the orchestra triggered Siri during Scene 3, and I heard it all the way in the lower mezz. The woman in the row in front of me would not turn off her phone until I asked her to, and when her phone went off during the play (of COURSE) she didn't even realize it was hers. During Daniel Craig's very first scene, he interrupted himself mid-sentence to point and call out an audience member--couldn't see what they were doing from the mezz, but I assume they were taking a photo.
With seats approaching $500 for the orchestra, I had hoped that some of these inconsiderate morons would be weeded out.
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