Portia Coughlan - Almeida

Had never seen this play before, and the reviews of earlier productions seem to be unanimous that it blisteringly explores themes of fate, heredity, death, isolation, the self-destructive nature of desire, the lack of female agency and that Marina Carr is Ireland's foremost living playwright on the strength of it...and certainly this extremely intense and full-blooded production goes a long way to making the case for it living up to those ferocious claims...



On the other hand...I have to say a tiny sceptical bit of me did just keep wondering..."Is this a right load of ol' cobblers, packed with every Oirish Misery cliché in the book...?"



Just me then? Interested to hear what others think. Certainly it got a standing ovation, but then what doesn't these days?

Anyone seen this yet? Really curious to hear what it’s like.

Went last night. Didn’t realise it was a play from 1996. For some reason I thought it was brand new going in. Oh dear. I can only chime with the audience members overheard above. It’s far, far too gloomy, almost relentlessly so. And, more pressing, we don’t care about the title character. She gets no journey, rather a repeat of scenes which all follow the exact same pattern: beginning with how great/troubled Portia is, and then Portia or another family member pressing the self destruct button. Then we have songs which slow everything down every further, as nicely sung as they are. Repeat for a further 15 scenes. And they’ve put an interval in, just to drag out the pain. (In Ireland, Denise Gough’s take ran straight through). There were at least 6 non-returners after the interval. Alison is a great actress, but this is a depressing evening.

Seems to be getting decent reviews on the whole, even if they mostly agree that the whole evening is a bit bleak - 4* in Time Out, WOS, The Stage, Guardian... but only 1* in The Times, who clearly loathed every minute of it. I'm not going for a couple of weeks, but at least I'm mentally prepared for the sort of evening I'm likely to have now.

Bleak but I really liked the staging and acting. I enjoyed the songs a lot, found some of them beautiful

Definitely too bleak for me. Could and probably should have ended at the interval.

Alison Oliver is great in everything, though, and she was fab in this.

This was also the first thing post pandemic that I have left at the interval

I think there are plays which are far bleaker

And the character of the granny brings acerbic humour

Albeit the basest stereotype of evil mother in law parody

In fact many of the characters have wit and the audience laughed at many points

So I don’t buy the bleak argument

I have also seen this play before several times and taken a lot from it

For me the fault lies entirely with the direction and the addition of the excessive songs which protract matters unnecessarily

I think Carrie Cracknell has been heavy handed and it is only due to the calibre of the actors that we get something vaguely watchable

The set also detracted as it didn’t give a proper sense of space and given Portia and her husband lived in relative affluence this was not reflected in the design (which then in turn used the same space for more than one location)

I also think the accents at times were so strong it caused difficulties following the dialogue which didn’t help matters either

The Denise Gough version was much better

It’d also a shame for Alison Oliver as she has now appeared in arguably the two worst shows (relatively speaking as the Almeida had a bumper few years) at this venue within a short space of time

I have also just put a free ticket on for Wednesday's matinee. I love a bleak play but I just can't make it now unfortunately. I'll have to read the news instead to get my fix of bleakness until I can make a later date.

Competition between this and Lyonesse

I think this is probably worse though

Have to disagree with comments on here. Saw this a few weeks ago, and found it quite spellbinding. Alison Oliver is the perfect choice for Portia - unruly, woeful, comic all the same, and just constantly watchable. I really do love the writing - the non-linear storytelling, the layers of secrets that slowly unfold, the pacing that creeps and lingers enough to create atmosphere, but without plodding. The added music, though pretty and quite haunting melodically, is perhaps a touch over-the-top, especially since the lyricism is very literal at times. The final scene is what won me completely - such a quiet, delicate moment that sticks in your head long after you leave. A good play for Carrie Cracknell, with strong echoes of her "Medea," and, in my opinion, another memorable play at the Almeida.