Ruth Leon recommends… Pocket Review– Donmar Warehouse
Ruth Leon recommendsForce Majeure – Donmar Warehouse
I only saw one play this week. Then I wished I hadn’t. In the current Covid climate, where we have to weigh carefully the risks of going out in public against the pleasure and stimulation to be gained inside our own four walls, I’ve become very discriminating about what I venture out to see. Sometimes, I get it wrong. Force Majeure is a stage adaptation of a popular Danish movie about a family holiday in the Alps.
The mother is seething about the uneven distribution of power in her marriage, the father is detached from all except his phone, the daughter is a standard-issue teenage girl, the son is an annoying but cute kid who adds nothing to the story. To fill things out, there are a couple of friends with their own troubles, and a selection of other skiers whizzing up and down the steep ski slope set. And an avalanche which never actually hits anything. So what have we got here? Another play about toxic masculinity? Another play about female resentment? Another play about bad parenting? Or no play at all?
The parents are played by Rory Kinnear and Lyndsey Marshall, usually excellent. The supporting cast are all strong actors. The director is Michael Longhurst. I was expecting a riveting evening. Yawn.
So she’s recommending that we DON’T go to see it ?
Ostlund is a Swedish director, not Danish. And the film is so good it doesn’t need to be re-worked as a play.