"Mercury Fur"

[+ beethoven]

I saw this the other night. The first production of the New Group this season -- I bought a subscription, which I don't usually do, but I've seen some interesting productions from this company before.

Two hours without intermission. Ben Brantley's review a few weeks ago warned that this was a dark, difficult play with grisly scenes, but he liked it. It was previously performed in London, where it was very controversial.

I walked out after an hour and ten minutes. I don't object to dark, grisly plays, but this was incomprehensible, both in dialogue and meaning. The actors didn't have impenetrable accents, but they spoke so fast and didn't bother to enunciate (I was in the third row), that I found it very hard to understand what they were saying. And when I could understand them, I didn't know what the hell the author was saying. The first 15 minutes was something about butterflies, and I still don't know what that was about.

Evidently (and I read Brantley's review after seeing the play -- or part of it), the blood and gore occurred after I left. That wouldn't have mattered to me, but what I witnessed was one of the worst evenings in the theater in a long time.

 

Has anyone else seen this play? I'd love to hear what you thought.