(Uncomplimentary) Review: Don Juan in Soho
It’s not often you get the urge to walk out of a theatrical production halfway through. In fact, it’s very rare indeed, especially with the utmost calibre of the London theatre scene. However, upon settling down to watch Don Juan in Soho, it wasn’t just an urge to leave when the interval struck, it was a a necessity. The play was so unbearably bad that the idea of sitting through another few hours of the spineless, lacklustre acting on show was simply too much to comprehend.
Let us give you some context to the production. David Tennant was the principal draw of the play, his face plastered all over London to promote Patrick Marber’s adaptation of Molière’s classic, and the general consensus (from the critics) was that, if taken with a pinch of salt, the play was fun and entertaining. So, why was it so catastrophically bad?
Well, to be quite honest, the whole of Greater London could have been inundated with salt and it still wouldn’t have been enough to dilute this utter drivel. The production was the pinnacle of atrociously unfunny slapstick. The play, dubbed a contemporary comedy, was anything but, provoking what I can only hope (for the sake of the viewers’ respective senses of humour) was a petty smattering of sympathy laughs from the audience.
Tennant himself looked as though he were acting in a trashy Preparatory School production: as if he were the Captain of the 1st XV blunderingly trying to prove he has a smidgen of acting talent and unknowingly falling flat on his face in front of the whole school. To make matters worse, gratuitous, unnecessary swearing was rife, Tennant seemingly trying to make up for his uninspired over-acting by dropping the c-bomb at regular intervals to entice undeserved laughs from those unfortunate enough to be in the audience. “I’m a c***!” he would routinely shout, naive to how apt this phrase actually was given the heinousness of the production.
His sidekick (if this were possible) was even un-funnier, wearing a constant, baffled baby-face to try and lure laughs from the poor audience in order to disguise his own corny, unimpressive performance. His facial expressions and body language were so immeasurably over-the-top, it was genuinely quite painful whenever he spoke. His humour was even more achingly obvious than Tennant’s, his comedic timing missed by a country mile and if he’d remained silent from minute one and stood dead still at the back of the stage, it would have been much better for all involved.
It didn’t stop there: the set was dismal, the entourage was equally flat and stale, the dancers, who were supposed to stylistically help the set changes, were hopelessly out of time (worryingly similar to an appalling Nursery School performance), and the inclusion of a tasteless, unfathomably poorly-timed and quite simply insensitive joke about Muslims and Allah (that immediately sent a shivery silence through the theatre) really topped off this utter atrocity of a play.
It's a real shame. Tennant has been brilliant in the past; his performances in Broadchurch, Harry Potter and Doctor Who were great, but this really will take some bouncing back.
For a theatre to even consider charging what they are for tickets for Don Juan in Soho should be a criminal offence. We beg you, don’t go and watch this, it’s a monstrosity. Sorry Dave.
Let us give you some context to the production. David Tennant was the principal draw of the play, his face plastered all over London to promote Patrick Marber’s adaptation of Molière’s classic, and the general consensus (from the critics) was that, if taken with a pinch of salt, the play was fun and entertaining. So, why was it so catastrophically bad?
Well, to be quite honest, the whole of Greater London could have been inundated with salt and it still wouldn’t have been enough to dilute this utter drivel. The production was the pinnacle of atrociously unfunny slapstick. The play, dubbed a contemporary comedy, was anything but, provoking what I can only hope (for the sake of the viewers’ respective senses of humour) was a petty smattering of sympathy laughs from the audience.
Tennant himself looked as though he were acting in a trashy Preparatory School production: as if he were the Captain of the 1st XV blunderingly trying to prove he has a smidgen of acting talent and unknowingly falling flat on his face in front of the whole school. To make matters worse, gratuitous, unnecessary swearing was rife, Tennant seemingly trying to make up for his uninspired over-acting by dropping the c-bomb at regular intervals to entice undeserved laughs from those unfortunate enough to be in the audience. “I’m a c***!” he would routinely shout, naive to how apt this phrase actually was given the heinousness of the production.
His sidekick (if this were possible) was even un-funnier, wearing a constant, baffled baby-face to try and lure laughs from the poor audience in order to disguise his own corny, unimpressive performance. His facial expressions and body language were so immeasurably over-the-top, it was genuinely quite painful whenever he spoke. His humour was even more achingly obvious than Tennant’s, his comedic timing missed by a country mile and if he’d remained silent from minute one and stood dead still at the back of the stage, it would have been much better for all involved.
It didn’t stop there: the set was dismal, the entourage was equally flat and stale, the dancers, who were supposed to stylistically help the set changes, were hopelessly out of time (worryingly similar to an appalling Nursery School performance), and the inclusion of a tasteless, unfathomably poorly-timed and quite simply insensitive joke about Muslims and Allah (that immediately sent a shivery silence through the theatre) really topped off this utter atrocity of a play.
It's a real shame. Tennant has been brilliant in the past; his performances in Broadchurch, Harry Potter and Doctor Who were great, but this really will take some bouncing back.
For a theatre to even consider charging what they are for tickets for Don Juan in Soho should be a criminal offence. We beg you, don’t go and watch this, it’s a monstrosity. Sorry Dave.
Comments
Post a Comment