Family Affairs and other matters

I am now happy to report that I did get invited to watch last night’s performance of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” at the Richmond Theatre and what a brilliant play it was. Brilliant performances by David Suchet as the father figure, Laurie Metcalf as the morphine addicted mother, Trevor White as the older, drunken bum of a son and Kyle Soller as Edmund the ill peace keeper of the family.

It was hard to watch but fascinating to see this immensely personal play by Eugene O’Neill, completed in 1941 still feel so relevant today. An intimate insight into the damage human beings can do to each other. Each character was harbouring such deep resentments that the actors had to move from touching sensitivity and compassion to ferocious attacks almost within the same sentence often triggered by the line “what are you staring at?”. The mother in particular couldn’t release the past from the present, or indeed even the future. She recognised her addiction but it was tragic to see how her decline affected those around her and herself “I no longer call my soul my own”.

It was excellent. Exhausting roles to play. Very physical in many ways. The mother featured mostly in the first half whereas it was David Suchet drinking with his son mostly in the second half.

My only complaint was that Richmond Theatre are selling the wrong sort of crisps. They need quieter ones. Not the really, really crunchy folded up ones that couldn’t be chewed owing to the soundless, on the edge of their seats audience.

Ice cream at half time a much better option.

Thank you to Richmond Theatre for sorting out my tickets.