In early December we saw the STC production of Speed the Plow – which took us to play number four and two thirds. Another item on the list to cross-off! I may yet make half of these 50 yet by the time the project is up!

Because I wasn’t drinking, and there was track work scheduled, we decided to drive in. This was actually very convenient and much cheaper than taking a taxi – yet another benefit to not drinking!

It was a glorious evening and we grabbed a quick pre-theatre dinner at the Bar at the end of the Wharf and admired the harbour.

This wasn’t my favourite play, nor was it my least favourite. A little hit and miss for me – there were some excellent bits and some quite mediocre bits. There’s something about some (most?) Australian actors doing American accents a little well, lame? tragic? unconvincing? and it takes me a bit to get past that.

On the upside – act 2 had an excellent and very sparse modernist set which I gazed upon admiringly.

This was the first play I’ve seen where I didn’t enjoy a pre-theatre glass of champagne, which I thought would be one of those drinking occasions that I would really miss. I didn’t really.

xxx

The other three and two thirds plays, in order, were:

King Lear in December 2015 blogged sparingly here
The Blind Giant is Dancing in February 2016 blogged sparingly here (lasted through 2/3)
All My Sons in July 2016 blogged sparingly here
The Hanging in July 2016 blogged sparingly here

In order of favourite: All My Sons, The Hanging, Lear, Speed the Plow, Blind Giant is Dancing.

xxx

Note: this item was see two plays per year (four in total), but I’ve tweaked it slightly because we’ve hit the four plays mark. Theatre is crazy expensive and we’re on that ExtremeFrugality kick. The lovely Bess bought us vouchers to the Belvoir for Xmas, so we will be getting another play in at some point!