Hecuba

Not according to the devastating Variety review.

I did Trojan Women a few months ago

I heard from a friend in England, who saw "Hecuba" a couple of months ago, that this production is a mind-numbing stinker: sloppy direction, leaden pace, badly acted. Unfortunately, I bought my ticket to a BAM performance before I got this review. But I may save myself the agony of a long and dull night in the theatre and skip out. Vanessa Redgrave, who can be brilliant in more modern things (Ibsen, Shaw and later), really should stay away from anything Shakespearian and earlier, I think. Has she ever been successful in anything from these earlier periods?

I missed Redgrave as Cleopatra, but from the reviews and friends's reactions, I would say you WERE in the minority in loving her performance, Margo. But I salute you, as I have loved performances that all around me have loathed (the latest is Lange's Amanda in "The Glass Menagerie"). I saw Redgrave a few years ago as Prospero in "The Tempest" at the Globe, and, as she is a strong androgynous-looking person, I thought it might be a case of great cross-sex casting--but her performance was shockingly wooden.

I was intrigued to see someone like Redgrave take on a role like Hecuba, but the reviews AND the word of mouth in London were all but unanimous in how awful this production and her performance were. I had seen Claire Higgins absolutely tear it up a few months before in a wonderful production of it at the Donmar Warehouse, so I decided to save myself the disappointment.

I had heard that Ms Redgrave was so unhappy with the way the show was received in London that she fired the director and designer from the US run. Don't know if that's true though.

---