Review: Midsummer Mischief A, The Other Place

In the spirit of the mischief for which it is named, my coverage of the two Midsummer Mischief programmes which mark the reopening of Stratford's The Other Place will be told through the medium of Rupaul's Drag Race gifs (borrowed with love from here). Now don't fuck it up.

Four playwrights have been asked to respond to the provocation "well behaved women seldom make history" and in the first double bill, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Ant and the Cicada and Alice Birch’s Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again take on the challenge.

First things first, The Other Place has been reconstructed on the stage of the Courtyard theatre with some unforgiving, and unforgivable seating.
I mean it is hard-going to say the least and put me in mind of the body-destroying experience of sitting in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. It is not good.
But back to the theatre. Wertenbaker's Greek-set drama strains a little hard to incorporate its multitudinous themes and explore them sufficiently. I'd put this up for elimination no doubt.
But Alice Birch's piece sparkles with much more eleganza, extravaganza and revolutionary spirit in a fiercely argued set of scenes which look at where feminism is and where it might end up. It represents.
It has all the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent that you could hope for and feels much more successful than the recent Blurred Lines in evoking the urgency of the debate.
So if these two were lip-syncing for their lives, it would most definitely be Alice Birch getting the 'shantay you stay' whilst Wertenbaker scrawls on the mirror with her lipstick.

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes (with interval)
Booking until 12th July and then playing the Royal Court 15th-17th July



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