Waste

If going to a theatre and watching 'nothing much happen' and hearing 'too much said' amongst a cast of predominantly middle-aged men who sit down a lot, then 'Waste' is definitely one for you.

nationaltheatre.org - Johan Persson Photography

For me, it certainly wasn't. The 1927 version of the piece is filled with waste, wasted opportunity to provide drama. There is the unfulfilled drama of adultery, of a potential illegitimate child, of a rumoured affair in parliament - but actually we see none of that. The adulterer dies before she becomes a problem, the child goes with her. The father of the child dies too and alas, all hopes of an explosive second act are well and truly dusted away into the wings. It seems that every bit of potential this piece has, is not actually written into the script. It is left away from the stage leaving us willing, begging even, for the action to wake us from our cramped-seat-slumber.

nationaltheatre.org - Johan Persson

I liked the set, I'll give it that. There was at least some attempt to make the piece interesting through its transitions, stylishly marking the four acts and allowing for a masked set-change. For those moments that we saw the set changes, props were moved by maids and directed by the butler, making it seem to be simply, part of the furniture. It was like a dance to watch as they swung their arms flamboyantly. It's a shame the leads didn't catch on, instead they remain almost static throughout the entire piece. I think a smaller stage might have suited it best. It felt unused and empty, leaving me feeling distant and unengaged.

nationaltheatre.org - Johan Persson Photography

Michael Elwyn gave an amateur performance as Horsham, with absolutely no convincing authoritative trait. Gerrard McArthur gave a stronger performance as Lord Cantilupe, using his stage presence to his advantage when plotting to join the front benches for the Disestablishment Act. Olivia Williams was a little too reserved as adulterer Amy O'Connell, her flirting not nearly loud enough to convince me of her character's amorous nature. Charles Edwards did the best he could with a script that gave him nothing but words, and no feelings to exercise. Although with a man who didn't care enough to love a woman, nor enough in losing a child yet hold a revolver to his head over his career - I couldn't have cared less that he'd met his end, making it very hard to sympathise with those left behind. Oh and for goodness sake, the mourning Walter only needs to say the word 'waste' once, stop making a long play longer with more unnecessary words. We all got the point quite quickly, the affair is going to ruin his career and his life. I didn't need further repetitive sentences to clarify what the entire play had been screaming at me: WASTED OPPORTUNITIES!!!

A whopping 140mins of dilly-dally-dialogue to delay the inevitable is enough to drive the audience to suicide too. Cut-throat it most certainly was not. My verdict: 'Waste' is a waste of time - or at least 2hrs and 40mins of it.