Out of Tune at the Minerva

By Robert Iles - 12th Jun 2004

I went to see this play with a group of actors, directors and writers. I'm glad I did, it took eight of us about an hour and a half to make some sense of what we'd seen. Opinions varied from 'pretentious w*nk' to 'over written, over laboured and over long'. It's not that the play is complex, actually its a simple and neat idea with plenty of potential, the problem was stripping away the layers of turgid text to find that inner core. The play concerns choices and paths through life; what might the outcomes be of various choices that were there to be taken at a critical moment. In the case of the central chcracter here, becoming pregnant by their father; should they have had an abortion, had the child adopted or brought the child up themselves. Overlayed is imigary of storks and the debate between creator, producer and exploiter. I have to say though, I can think of better ways of spending 90 minutes. Oh and to those other reviewers who loved it so ... there is only ONE woman .. the heavy-handed clues are everywhere, not least in their names Ella, Liz and Beth (get it!).