inception said: "
Who exactly is this for? The generation who cared about Taylor/Burton are all in rest homes.
I used to have a clipping if a great photo of Taylor screaming at a camera, stuck in a crowd outside the theatre during the run, but I can't find it online."
Wow. Perhaps, I missed this in this thread, but have you even seen "Motive"? Doesn't sound like you have. To infer the play is only for people who would care about/know about Taylor/Burton and, therefore, for no one, because those people are only in nursing homes, is, respectfully, completely absurd and, to be kind, sophomoric.
For context, I'm 65 and not in a nursing home. I caught this through NT Live and was in a movie theater in Brookline, MA with a lot of other people also not in a nursing homes.
Does any play about a real person(s) only appeal to an audience that remembers that person/those people? That eliminates a whole lot of theater that proves the contrary.
"Motive" is, at its heart, a love letter to the theater which I surmised well before I heard Sam Mendes describe it as same. He has succeeded wildly with his missive. Jack Thorne's play is smart and brilliant. So are the performances, direction, production, staging, everything - many scene transitions are a clever, visual delight. Motive works on so many levels and yet so accessible. It is very funny, sometimes very sad and incredibly moving. I was left stunned and shocked this was the play to stun me.
What is going on between Taylor and Burton is a distant second to what is going on between Burton and Gielgud. The T/B scenes are bubbly sideshows providing some relief to the denser themes. If anything, "Motive" is actually also a love (and hate) letter between Burton and John Gielgud.
Since Motive is not "about" Taylor and Burton and the wild tabloid swirl surrounding their first marriage, please instead know that in addition to it being about Burton being directed in Hamlet by Gielgud on Broadway in '64, it IS also about: theater, the essence of Hamlet, how to play Hamlet, who is Hamlet, Shakespeare, art, actors, the art of acting, the art of directing, the art of creating art, fathers/sons, youth vs. age, classicism vs modernism, artistic community, how dysfunction impacts art, artists declining vs. artists ascending, and about a dozen other things I haven't unpacked yet or have forgotten because there was so much. Something for everyone. But, okay, even without seeing "Motive" you are free to reduce it to being a play about a celebrity couple you THINK nobody remembers and hence of limited commercial appeal.
Also, despite this play not really being about T & B, the inference that they are a dead and obsolete celebrity couple no one really cares insults their considerable talent -- admittedly sometimes eclipsed by them being the "Bennifer" of their day. However, their acting achievements are forever etched in some incredible classic films. Kill two birds with one stone: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." Both of them brilliant.
Gatiss alone could be reason any serious theater goer OF ANY AGE would want to see this. Perfect performance. Not only do you not necessarily have to know who Taylor and Burton are to enjoy this play, it is questionable whether you need to know who Gielgud is, but of course it enhances the enjoyment exponentially. He could be any aging artist who thinks he is becoming obsolete absent a career reversal. The play lets you know all you need to know about all three. Johnny Flynn has a much more very difficult job and mostly succeeds.
The fly on the wall conceit here (backstage at rehearsals) puts to total shame anything the "Stereophonic" drivel hoped to accomplish with that same structural device. I've was very disappointed in not only "Sterophonic", but also "Dear England", "Appropriate", "Prayer For The French Republic" - going back to last year "Leopoldstadt" - all critical darlings. Recently, except for "Motive" only "Patriots" has had an impact on me, but even "Patriots" did not strike my heart as "Motive" did. "Motive" is the real thing. I admit I am giddy, precisely because I found all the aforesaid plays so grossly overhyped and lacking, and "Motive," wonderfully, caught me by surprise. I have not witnessed a more perfect dramatic production in a long time--and this was just the capture.
So, hope I have provided another perspective on what this play is about and who it might be for. Okay if not for you, but it is surely for a lot of other people who are not in nursing homes. If you are on these boards, and are, assumedly, a theater lover, I urge you to rethink this reductive assessment and instead look forward to and cheer its arrival on Broadway.
