The Visit or The Old Lady Comes to Call.

Olivier Theatre, NT. February 4th, 2020

At 3hrs 40 with 2 intervals this is not for the faint-hearted but OMG it is worth it.

Tony Kushner adapted (yes he of wondrous Angels in America) and staring the sublime Lesley Manville and introducing to the NT stage the phenomenal Hugo Weaving. This is GOLD. No, this is PLATINUM.

Set in the forgotten, ailing post-war town of Slurry in NY State. Money is tight. Industry is failing. The mood is low. Then home-grown billionairess Claire Zachanassian comes calling. The town is gripped with excitement and curiosity. Why is she coming back? Can she save their town? What does she want?

They push her childhood sweetheart (Weaving) into the spotlight as bait for her to invest in the town and save them. But she has come calling for a very specific reason. She wants revenge on the town for appalling treatment she received as a teenager and she wants the perpetrators held to account. She makes the town a shocking proposal.

This pitches wealth against morality. Claire buys her way through life — she buys justice, husbands, industries, towns, people… Whatever she wants she gets. And this sets up some fascinating existential dilemmas so be prodded and poked.

The pillars of Religion, Science and Education are pitted against this proposal of money. Nuances are explored and the verdict is pretty damning on the human race as the town slowly loses itself to the lure of cash.

At the heart of this are Manville who is revelling in this gift of a role. She’s vicious, capricious, articulate, angry, wronged and tragic. Amazing performance and already a front runner for my Best female.

And Weaving is her ex-lover Alfred, the man she lost her heart to, and who wronged her so egregiously that it has coloured her whole life. He is a downtrodden and unlikely Romeo and once unmasked as fearful, weak and dishonorable — he was a teenager at the time, but that is no excuse. He plays the role so beautifully and with such nuance, empathy and pain. I was transfixed. (This is the calibre of performance that Bill Pullman should have done in All My Sons last year. This is the layered, complex character that confuses, confounds and brings great compassion. Best male? He’s in my top spot already.

The play is complex and layered and challenging and new and funny and I LOVED it. Kushner’s use of language is a joy. He pulls from Greek revenge with a chorus of blind eunuchs, death symbolism, clearly identified pillars of humanity, brutality and warnings. The questions it raises and turns on the audience in the 3rd part are powerfully played and hit hard. What would you do?

It left me needing to google Greek mythology and learn and understand more. And had me debating this with my taxi driver on the way home. He’s going to take his daughter who’s studying English.

5/5 The NT is blowing hot and cold at the moment. This is HOT. Go.

Related posts:

My Makeover Monday journey started in Las Vegas and as any good Vegas story should be, it was a little random. You see I was attending my first ever Tableau Conference it was #TC17 and I knew nothing…

Memorable hikes should always be filled with stories of good scenery, says Benjamin Westover of Idaho. Even more because pictures of those are what you can bring home. So, here are some the most…

Madonna decided to battle a Dragon and Landed Sheba the Pink Dragon, strangely the two Icons ended up in a Staring Match inside of a Steel Vs Flame Battle… Sheba finally got the upper hand and picked…